


Project Sphinx

by SaotomeSakura



Category: Beyblade
Genre: Abduction, Angst, Emotional Hurt, M/M, Psychological Torture, Rape/Non-con Elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-28
Updated: 2019-09-28
Packaged: 2019-09-29 05:56:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 19
Words: 22,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17197820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaotomeSakura/pseuds/SaotomeSakura
Summary: Boris is back from the jail and found his years lost project, that could help him destroy the world. Can he do it? Or can someone stop him? And what exactly is this project? And why some of the world bladeres goes missing?





	1. Prologue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope I set every tag, I should have. If anyone feels, I missed something, tell me please. Thank you.

From the Court building exited an old man with lilac hair. He waited on the stairs a while and looked around. Then he smirked in victory. He found, what he was looking for. He found the person that finally got him out of the jail. The man slowly went down the stairs and went to nearby black limousine. He opened the doors and quickly got in.

Inside was an old man with long gray hair, dressed in costly clothes, waiting for him. They both nodded theirs heads for a greeting. 

"Its pleasure seeing you again, Lord Voltaire," the lilac haired man smirked. 

The addressed man scowled, "Enough of this absurdity Boris. I want to know, what was so important, that you wanted me to get you out of the jail, especially after you disappointed me so much." 

Boris's face got serious look.

"Fine, end of the game," he said seriously, "I know, where is Project Sphinx."

Voltairs eyes narrowed. In that project he put as much effort as in Kai and Black Dranzer. But the blader got away ten years ago and they were looking for him since then, but unsuccessfully. 

"Are you sure?" Voltaire asked. 

Boris nodded, "I had enough time in jail to think about it, and I am hundred percent sure." 

Voltaire smiled wickedly, "Excellent. I want him. As soon as possible."

On Boris's face appeared the same wicked smile, "As you wish, my Lord." 

Both men in the limousine smirked. Project Sphinx will be soon in theirs hands again, and then nothing will stand in their way to world domination.


	2. Chapter 1

Team Blade Breakers entered a luxurious hotel. They just got to Switzerland, where in few days would take another tournament place. It would be big tournament, where all of the teams would compete.

Kai went to reception, while others were waiting for him.

“This is so cool!” Tyson exclaimed, “I only hope we would have mini-bar in our room.”

Other members rolled their eyes.

“Tyson, do you sometimes think about anything else than food?” his best friend Max asked.

“But Maxie,” Tyson whined.

Before they could tell something else about Tyson’s appetite, Kai returned with their keys. “Come on quickly, before journalists get here,” Kai growled.

Others knew that in these situations they should stay quiet and not to argue with him, so they quietly followed him to the elevator. They noticed that lately Kai was in even worse mood than usual.

Their apartment was on the seventh floor. There were only three rooms so the Blade Breakers had to pair up and Kenny got his own room. But that was nothing new. It was simply Tyson with Max and Kai with Rei. Probably nobody else could put up with Kai.

Kai went to his room. Rei went right after him and closed the door, so they others would hear them.

“Can you tell at least me, what is bothering you?” Rei asked quietly.

Kai didn’t turn, “Not that it’s your concern, but Boris’ case will be reopened…”

Rei automatically crossed his arms and sank his fingers into his shoulders.

“You…” Rei said nervously, “don’t think they would let him go, do you?”

Kai shook his head, “I don’t know. I don’t even know when the trial is. I only heard this from Tala.”

Rei bit his bottom lip. “He is not going to take Demolition Boys to Abbey again, is he?” he asked and in his mind added, ‘To take you…’

Kai sighed, “They won’t probably let him go, but it’s still nagging me a little.” “Right,”

Rei nodded. Then he left.

Kai threw himself on the bed and looked at the ceiling. He couldn’t get the opening of Boris’ case from his head. He knew, that Boris had only small chance on getting out, but it was this small chance that was bothering Kai. It would mean that Kai’s grandfather, Lord Voltaire, helped him. But Voltaire wouldn’t help him, if Boris wouldn’t prove himself useful to him. Kai shifted to his side. When he will see Tala next time, he would ask him about that.

Team was sitting in the living room, when they heard someone knocking. Rei sighed and went to open the door. But he didn’t even fully open them, when something jumped at him. He didn’t expect it so he lost his balance and fell. He didn’t see anything but red. Then he smelled familiar smell.

“Tala, how many times do I have to tell you, not to jump at me like this?” Rei said calmly.

Tala straightened himself, but he stayed sitting on Rei.

 “Mou, kotёnok, I came to visit you and you don’t even greet me?” Tala said with a grin.

“Ivanov, get down,” Kai said.

“Ka-ai,” Tala whined, but in that moment Bryan appeared, caught his collar and lifted him up.

“Aww, Bryan, you don’t have to be so rough,” said Tala as he rubbed his neck.

“No, but you’re in the way,” Bryan nodded behind him, where appeared Ian and Spencer.

Both teams were sitting in the living room. Kenny was in the corner, working on Dizzi, Max, Tyson, Ian and Spencer were playing video game and Kai with Tala and Bryan were on the couch while Rei was preparing something for them. Kai wanted to ask Tala about Boris, but he couldn’t when there were others, so he reverted to his mother tongue, Russian.

“Tala? Kak ono s Boris? Chto-nibыdj novoe?” Kai asked, hoping, that others wouldn’t notice anything.

The Russians froze, but then relaxed, as if nothing was going on.

Tala got serious, “Ja ne imeju horoshie novosti. On vыshel.”

Kai made face. Suddenly they were interrupted by loud noise. They turned only to see Rei picking up a knife he dropped. When Rei got up, he noticed all the stares.

“Umm, I dropped knife,” Rei said uneasy, “did I scare you?”

Kai shook his head, “No, everything is all right.”

Rei brought sandwiches that he made, put them on the table and sat down on a chair.

Kai waved at Tala, “Prodolzhajtesj.”

Tala nodded, “Molva chto ona bыla tvoim ded delatj.”

Kai frowned, “Pochemu on sdelal bы to? Chego on strogaet?”

“Ja ne znaju, no ne mozhet bыtj horosho,” Tala said. 

Kai sighed, “Bыtj ostorozhnыm.” Tala grinned, “Ja vsegda. Ne potrevozhjtesj o mne.”

Bryan and Kai rolled eyes at his comment.

In that moment Rei’s cell rung. He took it and spoke to it. After few seconds he smiled, “Ah, Mariah, you just got here?”

They talked for a while and the Rei hung up. Rei got up from the chair, “White Tigers just got to the hotel, I’m going over for a while.”

His friends only nodded. As Rei was walking out from the door,

Kai was following him with his eyes. Tala sent him knowing look, “Tak, vы skazali emu poka?”

Kai frowned, “Skazhite kogo chto?“

“Ne sыgrajte tupoumnoe, ono ne odevaet vы. Vы znaete ochenj nailuchshim obrazom chego ja govorju o,“ Tala sighed, “Vы skazali, to vы ljubite ego?”

Kai looked away, “Net.” “Chto vы?” Tala asked Kai.

Kai couldn’t take it anymore and snapped, “Nikakoe iz vashego dela!”

Tala put up arms in defense, “Whoa, I only asked.”

“Asked what?” Tyson suddenly spoke.

“None of your business,” Kai said coldly.

Tyson got angry, “By the way, it’s rude to talk in different language if others don’t understand you, you know?”

Bryan sloped to him, “Do we look like we care?”

Tyson paled, but said nothing.

Bryan with a smirk straightened.

They stayed like for a while, when Tyson said that he is hungry.

“So make yourself something,” Kai said without care, “You have hands, don’t you?”

“But Ka-ai,” Tyson whined. But Kai ignored him.

“Fine!” Tyson exclaimed and got up, “Come Max, Kenny, we are eating out.”

 Max squealed and ran out of the door.

Kenny sighed, closed Dizzy and followed his friends. The Russians only shrugged and stayed where they were.

 

\- BB - BB - BB - BB -

 

Tyson ran to the elevator without watching out. But near the elevator he stumbled into someone and fell down.

“La montre étaient vous sont imbécile allant,” he heard. It was familiar voice and when he looked around, he saw Oliver and near them were the other Majestics.

“Hey, Oliver, I’m sorry for that,” Tyson apologized.

Surprised Oliver looked at him,

“Tyson!” And the he said amused, “I should’ve known, that only you would ran in the hotel corridors.”

When they got up, Max and Kenny caught up with Tyson.

“So what are you doing here guys?” Tyson asked the Majestics.

“We are here for the tournament obviously,” Robert said annoyed. “I know that!”

Tyson shouted, ignoring the softly laughs of his friends, “I mean right here and now.”

“I wanted to try out the food here,” Oliver explained, “So we are going to restaurant.”

Tyson grinned, “That’s cool, because we are going out to eat too, so we can go together.”

“Excellent,” Johnny said sarcastically.

Tyson wanted to say him something, but Kenny stopped him. Otherwise they would be there for a long time.  

 

\- BB - BB - BB - BB -

 

Rei didn’t even knock when the door opened and Mariah jumped at him, so for the second time that day he found himself on the ground.

“Reeeeeeeeeeeei!” Mariah shouted, “I missed you!”

Rei rolled his eyes, “I left you only a month ago and I was in Chine for three months.

Mariah smiled, „I know, but still.” They got up and entered the apartment.

“Rei and Mariah are sitting on a tree,” Kevin sung as he was passing them by.

Mariah blushed and started to chase him around the room, “Kevin!”

Kevin only laughed and ran. Until Gary caught him and lifted him.

Mariah got to them, “Thanks Gary.” Then she turned to Kevin, “You little monkey...“

Rei put his hand on her shoulder and stopped her. “You two never change,” Rei said with a smile.

In that moment Lee exited his room.

“Hey, Lee,” Rei greeted him.

“Hey, Rei,” said Lee, “How are you?”

Rei waved his hand, “I’m good, and you?”

“We’re in our top form, prepare to lose,” Kevin exclaimed.

Rei smirked, “Don’t underestimate us, Kevin. “They sat down in the living room and talked about various things.

 

\- BB - BB - BB - BB -

 

Team Majestics and part of Blade Breakers, exited the hotel. Nobody noticed the black car, standing nearby. In the car with tinted glass was sitting a man with phone in his hand. Besides him was lying file case like doctors had.

“Yes sir,” the man said into his phone, “Number X 01 arrived today to the hotel.”

There was silence while the man listened to his superior. Then he continued, “I understand sir, we will observe X 01 and in the right moment we will take him.”

Then the man hung up. He took the file and opened it. Inside, next to some notes, were two photos. One was from before the Sphinx disappeared and one newer.

Man smiled a little, “I wonder, if he still remembers me…”

Then he put it away and called at his chauffeur, “We are going.” Chauffeur without a word started the motor and the car took off.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> K: Tala? What’s with Boris? Do you have anything new?  
> T: I don’t have good news. He got out.  
> K: Continue.  
> T: I heard it was your grandfathers doing.  
> K: Why would he do that? What is he planning?  
> T: I don’t know, but it’s not good.  
> K: Be careful  
> T: I always am. Don’t worry about me.
> 
> After Rei left:  
> T: Did you tell him yet?  
> K: I don’t know what you mean.  
> T: Don’t try to look stupid, it doesn’t suit you. You know very well what I’m talking about. Did you tell him, that you love him?  
> K: That’s none of your business
> 
>    
> kotёnok - kitten
> 
>  
> 
> Oliver: Watch were you are going, idiot.


	3. Chapter 2

The White Tigers left the hotel. They wanted to train a little for the upcoming tournament in the park that was near the hotel rather than in a hotel gym. All four of them get through the gate. 

Suddenly Mariah stopped, searching for something in her pockets frowning. In the end she sighed and said, "You go ahead, I have to go back." 

Lee looked at her, "What happened?" 

Mariah shook her head, "It's nothing, I only forgot my talisman..." 

"You should finally stop with that rubbish," Kevin muttered, but unfortunately Mariah heard him. 

"Kevin," she called, "That's not rubbish, and it really brings me luck!" Then she turned around and went back inside.

"Kevin, do you have to do that?" Lee shook his head, "You know very well, that Mariah believes in those things, so it is better not to say anything." 

Kevin frowned, "But it's so stupid." 

"I know," Lee sighed, "But we should leave that..." 

Kevin wanted to say more, but decided that it would be better, if he should just shut up. After all, he shouldn't piss Lee off.

\- BB - BB - BB -

Mariah was looking all over her luggage. 

'Where is it?' she nervously thought. Finally her hand touched small silk bag. She smiled and withdrew her hand. 

"Finally," she said happily, "I started to think, I lost you." 

Mariah would be angry at herself, if she lost the talisman. Rei and Lee had exactly the same, and if she lost hers, the charm would be gone.

Mariah saw, as the doors of the lift, begun to close. So she ran to catch it. 

"Wait for me!" she called. 

The doors stopped and she made it in. Inside she met Majestics. 

"Oh, hi," she smiled at them. 

Robert and Johnny only nodded. But Enrique immediately returned her smile and leaned near her, 

"Hi Mariah, how are you? Excited about the tournament?" 

Mariah blushed. She knew, that Enrique was doing such things all the time, and she should be used to that, but she couldn't help it.

Suddenly Enrique got elbowed between his ribs. He flinched and turned. Behind him was Oliver and was glaring at him. 

Mariah laughed. "You deserved it Enrique, you know?" she winked, "But don't worry Oliver, Enri is not my type." 

Enrique grinned and throwed his arm around her shoulder, "I know, Rei is your type." 

Mariah got indignant look, "Eww, no... How did you get something like this? Rei is like my brother. Say, would you like date your brother?" She quickly got from under Enrique's arm. Then she saw their shocked faces. "What?" she asked annoyed, "Yes, I like him, but only in brotherly way. And I often don't see him for a long time, so I really miss him..." 

She saw as two members of Majestics slowly nodded.

\- BB - BB - BB –

The Majestics bid their good bye to Mariah and went their own way. 

Robert decided, that today they would train in the gym. 

As they went, Johnny noticed black car with smoke glass. He remembered, that he saw the same car the previous day, but back then he didn't thought much about it, but now it started to look suspicious. He tried to look, who was inside, but because of the dark glasses he didn't see anything.

"Johnny?" Robert asked the young Scot. 

"Huh?" Johnny turned to him. He was so lost in thoughts that he completely forgot about his friends. 

The tall boy looked at him annoyed. "I asked you, what do you think about our strategy for the tournament," he repeated his question coldly. 

Johnny frowned, "Yeah, it's great..." 

Oliver rolled his eyes, "Do you even know, what are we talking about, mon ami?"

"Of course I know," Johnny snapped angrily. 

"Then tell us about it," Oliver said calmly. There was silence.

Robert rolled his eyes, "What are you thinking about?" 

Johnny scowled. "I saw a suspicious car before the hotel. It was all black with smoke glass, so I didn't see who was in. I think I saw it yesterday too..." Johnny said. 

"And?" Enrique asked disinterested. 

Johnny shrugged, "I got into a fight with my father and now he thinks he has to keep an eye on me..."

Other members of Majestics were staring at him in awe. Then they started to laugh. 

Johnny angrily watched them. 

"AAWWW, our little Johnny-Wohnny needs a nanny," Enrique said between laughs. 

Johnny looked like he was about to hit him, "Idiots! I will never tell you something again." 

Oliver suppressed last giggle, "But mon ami, if someone from us would be in your place, right now you would be laughing on the ground."

\- BB - BB - BB –

Mariah finally got to the park, where she spotted her team. 

Kevin and Gary were battling together and Lee was watching over them. 

Lee waved at her, "Did you find, what you were looking for?" 

Mariah stuck tongue at him, "Of course, otherwise I wouldn't be here..." 

Lee rolled his eyes, "If you didn't go back, you could see Rei. Blade Breakers were here training, but they went back already." 

"What?!" Mariah exclaimed, "Couldn't you delay them?" 

"It's your fault," Kevin said. 

"Shut up. Nobody asked you," Mariah snapped at him.

"But it's true," Lee said calmly. 

Mariah pouted. 

They watched Kevin and Gary for a few minutes, when Lee said, "Grandfather called by the way." 

Mariah looked at him surprised. They didn't have electricity in their village, so when someone wanted to make a call, they had to go to small town twenty kilometers away. "Did something happen?" Mariah asked worried. 

Lee shook his head, "No, he was only reminding me, so that I don't forget to pick him tomorrow up from the airport." 

Mariah nodded. She nearly forgot that grandfather is coming to see them at the tournament. He came on the only rarely and he never was on one outside the China. But Mariah was happy, they trained so hard.


	4. Chapter 3

Blade Breakers returned after the training to the hotel. Kai immediately vanished to his room. Younger boys looked at Rei. 

When Rei noticed them, he raised an eyebrow. Then he shrugged. It was true, that he knew Kai better than others from their team, but that didn't mean, that he could read Kai's mind. Rei walked into his shared room. He heard the water flowing from the bathroom, so he knew, Kai was showering. He sat down on is bed and threw himself on it. He reached for his pillow, hugged it and sighed. He was listening to the sound of the water.

 'Kai is in the shower... naked,' Rei thought and blushed. He quickly shook his head to get rid of those thoughts, 'God, don't think about it. What would Kai think, if he knew, that you are in love with him?!'

Rei turned to his side, to Kai's bed. He saw some Kai's clothes on it. Rei quickly glanced on the doors that lead to bathroom. He slowly rose and walked to the bed of his team-mate. He glanced at the door again to make sure Kai wouldn't unexpectedly walk out. Then he grabbed Kai's shirt and sniffed it. The smell was a mixture from what Rei could describe only as, 'Kai...'

"What are you doing?" came from behind him. 

Rei quickly spun around. 

Behind him was Kai, with his hair still wet and towel around his waist. His face was blank as usual. 

"I asked you, what are you doing?" Kai repeated his question. 

"I-I only wanted t-to pick your things and put them a-away," Rei stuttered. 

"Liar," Kai said calmly and started to walk to Rei.

Rei immediately started backing off, letting go of the shirt he was holding. But he had to stop, when he was by the wall. 

Kai neared him with predator look in his eyes. 

Rei terrified watched as Kai walked to him and placed his hands on the wall on both sides of his head.

Then Kai said coldly: "You sniffed my shirt. Why?" 

Rei twitched, "I was not... Kai, please, believe me, I was only..." 

"Liar!" Kai hissed dangerously, "Why did you do it?" 

Rei was shaking and there were tears on his cheeks. 

"K-Kai, I'm sorry," Rei sobbed, "I-I l-like you... more t-than friend..." 

Kai reached his right hand to Rei's face, who closed his eyes, because he thought, Kai would hit him. But Kai's hand gently brushed his tears away. 

Rei looked at Kai.

The cold look on his face was gone and there was a mix from emotions. Kai leaned down to Rei.

 Rei didn't have the time to react, when Kai's lips touched his.

They stayed like that for few seconds and then Kai pulled away. 

Rei looked shocked at Kai. Then he stuttered out, "K-Kai?" 

Kai smirked, "I wanted to tell you, that I like you too, Rei."

Rei didn't have time to react, when Kai kissed him again. When he felt something wet on his lips, he closed his eyes and parted his lips, to give Kai access to his mouth. 

Kai immediately slipped his tongue in and started do explore Rei's mouth. His hands were roaming Rei's body, until they got to his waist. Kai's hands circled Rei's waist and hugged him closer. Meanwhile Rei's hands encircled Kai's neck.

After time, that seemed like eternity, they pulled apart, but only to catch their breath and they kissed again. They didn't notice that the doors opened and somebody walked in. 

Suddenly there was another voice. 

"Hey guys, I want you to look at this..." Kenny began, but then he looked up from Dizzy and noticed his friends. 

They looked at each other for a few seconds, and then Kenny quickly turned around and ran from the room. 

Kai looked at Rei, who was red from embarrassment. 

"Kai? Do you realize, that he would tell others?" Rei bit his lip. 

Kai's eyebrow rose, "And? At least they would have something to talk about." 

Rei's blush darkened. 

Kai smiled and kissed Rei on the nose. Then he pulled away and went dress himself.

Rei quickly left the room and saw his friends, as they were huddled together and whispering something. When he coughed to get their attention, they jumped apart and looked guiltily at each other. Rei immediately knew what they were talking about. He blushed and looked away.

 "Uhm," Tyson started, "Rei, is it true, that you were kissing with Kai?" 

Rei blushed harder. He didn't know what to answer. 

"Yes, it's true," said a deep voice from behind him. Behind him appeared Kai with his non-readable face.

Max squealed and with huge smile he ran to Rei. 

"Congratulation," he called, as he bumped into the raven haired youth and hugged him. 

"Eh?" Rei was surprised. Max only grinned. 

Then Tyson said, "I still can't believe, that you and Kai... Do you get it? Rei, the nicest guy in the world, and Mr. Ice-berg..." 

"Tyson!" Rei and Max shouted. 

Nobody noticed Kai, as he slipped his shoes on his feet. 

They noticed him only when he called, "I'm going to Demolition Boys." 

Others didn't have time to respond and the doors closed behind him.

The remaining members of Blade Breakers decided to play some game. They killed some time with it, but in the end Tyson won and started to act cocky about it, so others got tired from it. 

Rei looked from the window. Then he got up and said: "Hey, guys, I'm going out for walk." 

Max, Tyson and Kenny only nodded. 

Rei got his shoes and in the doors he turned to them, "I will be gone an hour, hour and half, if he retu-... Ah, er, so you know." A dark blush appeared on his face and he quickly left. 

Max giggled. 

Kenny blushed and Tyson grinned, "They are impossible, aren't they?" 

Max laughed and nodded.

\- BB - BB - BB - BB -

"Aww, our little Kai is finally growing up," Tala grinned and threw himself around Kai's neck. 

Kai had told them, what happened with Rei. 

"Tala," Kai growled at his red haired friend. 

Suddenly Bryan appeared beside them, picked Tala by the back of his collar and yanked him off Kai. 

"Ivanov, this is last warning," Bryan said slowly and dangerous. 

Tala pouted, "But Bryan, you know, I love only you." Then he drew Bryan down by the front of his shirt and kissed him. This simple kiss quickly turned into passionate.

"Eww," other Demolition Boys called disgusted. 

Kai grabbed pillow from the couch and threw it at his friends. 

"Get a room," he said, "You are not alone." 

Tala pulled away from Bryan, "Are you jealous? I can kiss you too." And he was already leaning to him, but Kai smacked him in the face and pushed him away. 

"I would rather not," Kai said calmly, "I would have to get my stomach pumped afterward." 

Tala smirked, "As you wish, your loss." 

Kai only shrugged.

 


	5. Chapter 4

Boris smirked. They can't wait longer. It was time to collect Sphinx. And they would take Demolition Boys too. After all, they would need some strong team, which could get into finale in the tournament. Even thought they proved themselves untrustworthy that could be changed very quickly. All it needs is a few days of special training and a bit of attention and he would make from Demolition Boys the ruthless team, they used to be. He got his cell phone out and dialed number of the man that could take of things, Grigory Alexandrov.

When Grigory heard his phone, he pushed the button without hesitation. It was his boss, Boris. He listened to what the other man has to say for a while and then he smirked. 

"Yes, I understand sir," Grigory said, "I will have them all by the evening, don't worry." Then he disconnected it. "Finally," Grigory said, "After all this years of waiting we can finally re-open the Project Sphinx. And we didn't even explore the full potential of Sphinx..." Once again Grigory got his phone out and dialed a number. After a few seconds it connected. "Ivan?" Grigory said into the phone, "Begin the operation."

\- BB - BB - BB - BB -

Demolition Boys heard a knocking on the door. Bryan, Ian and Spencer tried to look, like they didn't hear anything so Tala got up and with some murmuring went to open the door. 

"Did you forget something, Kai?" he asked as he was opening. 

But on the other side wasn't Kai, but a few men in suits. 

Tala immediately paled and tried to close the door, but he failed. 

One of the men got his foot in it.

Right after that the red headed Russian felt pain in his right shoulder and lost consciousness. 

"Tala!" Bryan called. Then a sleeping dart sunk in his neck. 

Spencer jumped over the couch and Ian run to the bedroom, to hide in there, but before he got there, another from the men blocked his way and after another second he was lying on the floor too. 

Spencer had a little more luck, because he was stronger than his friends, but after a minute it was all over.

It didn't take even five minutes and the mysterious men were gone, just as quickly as they appeared. And they took the Demolition Boys with them. They even closed the doors after them, to not to look suspicious, so it wouldn't be discovered too soon. All they left after them was empty hotel room.

\- BB - BB - BB - BB -

Rei was returning from his walk to the hotel. He was near the entrance, when he saw Max exiting the gate. 

The blond blader was looking around and then he saw Rei. He smiled brightly and waved at Rei. 

Rei smiled too and raised his arm to wave at Max, when a voice came from behind him: "Bilo dolgim vremenem, nomer X 01." 

Max could see, as Rei's eyes widened, so they looked twice their normal size. He saw as Rei quickly spun around to something that was behind him, and then he saw it too.

Behind Rei were standing two well built men. Obviously they said something to Rei, for him to be so scared. 

Rei turned again and tried to run from them, but one of the men quickly grabbed his wrist and jerked him back. 

The other man grabbed him around his waist and lifted him. 

Rei started to trash in hope to get away. He started to shout in panic: "Prepjatstvujte mne pojti! Ja ne idu nazad k tomu adu!" But all his attempts ended when one of the men forced a piece of cloth in his face. His body slumped and he was embraced by darkness.

The men ignored Max, who ran to them shouting, and with unconscious Rei climbed in a black car standing behind them. 

Max could only watch as the car vanished behind the corner. Max was just standing there, trying to comprehend what had just happened. He started to tremble. He turned and started to run to the hotel, when his feet stumbled across something. Max looked down and on the path he saw Rei's white blade, Drigger. He carefully lifted it and ran to hotel.

When he got to their apartment, Tyson, who was chewing some chocolate, looked at him, "Where is Rei? Did you see him?" 

The blond youth him started to tremble and cry. 

"Maxie?" Tyson said hesitatingly. "R-Rei..." 

Max tried brokenly, "Rei was kidnapped..." 

"WHAT?!" called all in the room. 

Tyson let the chocolate fall on the floor, Kai, who was till now lying on the couch, shot up, and Kenny flinched so hard, that his glasses slid down his nose.

Max had to tell them all he knew. He was still crying, but they understood him. 

"When they were taking him, he said something to them," Max sobbed, "I didn't understand him, but they apparently did. But it didn't sound like Chinese." 

"I didn't know, that Rei speaks other language besides Chinese, Japanese and English," Kenny said. 

"Max, can you repeat, what Rei said?" Kai asked seriously, "Maybe we can translate it somehow and figure out, who took him." 

Max wiped his tears and thought, "I think it was something like:  _Prepjatstvujte mne pojti! Ja ne idu nazad k tomu adu!"_

There was heavy silence. 

Then Kai asked, "Max, are you sure, that he said this?" 

Max looked at him, "I tried my best to repeat that. Why? Do you recognize it?" 

Kai nodded, "It was Russian and it means: Let me go, I won't go back to that hell. But Rei doesn't speak Russian..."

Kai bit his lip. He took out his cell and called the only person, who knew the Russian underworld better than him, Tala. But he didn't pick up. He tried again, but the same outcome. Kai frowned. He tried Bryan, but it was the same. He called everyone from Demolition Boys, but nobody was picking up. "Shit," he murmured angrily. When he needs them most, his friends decide to ignore him.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bilo dolgim vremenem, nomer X 01 – It has been long, number X 01.


	6. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Underscored text is in Russian. It would be uncomfortable, if you have to read every other sentence in Russian.

Kai rushed to the room where Demolition Boys stayed. He couldn't take it anymore. Nobody answered his calls and he had a bad feeling. He came to the door and started knocking. 

"Hey Tala, Bryan, Ian, Spencer," Kai called, "If you are there, open the damned door!" 

He stopped and listened. Inside was silent. Too silent for Kai's liking. He left not a hour ago, and Tala didn't mention any plans.

Kai frowned. He didn't have any other choice but to pick the lock. He quickly looked around. Then he got out his lock pick and pushed into the lock. He carefully turned it, until he heard familiar click. He smirked and pushed the door open. But when he saw what was inside, he froze. The room was a mess, and one of the pillows was torn, so that he could see the white stuffing.

Kai scowled. This could mean only one thing. Demolition Boys were in similar situation as Rei. He didn't have other choice. He had to call Mr. Dickenson. He dialed his number and waited. It rang. But in Kai's opinion, it took too long. He punched the wall with his fist. Finally he heard the familiar click, 

"Hello?" "Mr. Dickenson," Kai said, "we have a problem." 

"Kai, my boy, what is it?" Dickenson asked. 

"Rei and Demolition Boys got kidnapped," Kai said frankly. 

The voice in the phone gasped, "W-What? I will call the police immediately. And you stay with others." 

"But..." Kai tried to protest, but Mr. Dickenson interrupted him, "Kai, we really don't need another kidnappings." 

Kai sighed, "Yes sir." 

He really wanted to help somehow, but he could understand Mr. Dickenson's concern. 

"Good, I will alert other teams," Mr. Dickenson said, "And tomorrow there will be emergency meeting for all teams."

\- BB - BB - BB -

Tala slowly came back to the consciousness. He groaned from pain, that was shooting from his head to his whole body. He slowly opened his eyes and blinked. When he looked around, he saw, that he was in dark and soggy cell. 

Tala could see a cell across from his. There was something in it. And when his eyes got used to the dark, he realized that it was his lover, Bryan. Tala wanted to stand up and go to the bars, but he found out, that he can't move, because he was chained to the wall by thick iron chains. And by the looks of it, it looked, like Bryan was in similar situation. But he couldn't be certain, because Bryan was still unconscious.

Suddenly Tala heard some moaning from the cell left from his. 

"Uh, guys," Tala could hear, "Are you here?" 

Tala blinked, it was Ian. 

"Hey, Ian, I am here," Tala half whispered, "And I can see Bryan, but he is still out." 

"I see Spencer," Ian said back. In that moment they heard Bryan stir. 

"You two don't have to shout so much," Bryan muttered. 

"Mou, you have such a bad mood when you wake up," Tala whimpered. 

"Especially, when Boris kidnaps us," Bryan said dryly. 

They were silent, when they realized, in what trouble they were in again. 

"Spencer!" the youngest member of Demolition Boys called. 

"Shut up, Ian," Spencer muttered groggily, "Oh god, I think, I'm going to be sick."

Demolition Boys hear as somewhere near a door opened. And after few seconds they saw some guards. 

Even in the weak light Tala could recognize them as guards from Abbey. And he realized that one of the guards was carrying unconscious Rei. 

"Hey, what are you doing?!" Tala exclaimed, "He doesn't have anything with this. Leave him be!" 

"Shut up!" one of the guards barked, "Shut the fuck up, when you don't know, what's going on." 

Then he opened the cell on Tala's right and they left Rei there and left again.

Tala immediately called at Rei, "Rei? Rei! Are you okay? Say something!" 

"Don't bother Tal, he is out of it. They must have drugged him," Bryan remarked calmly. 

"But Bry..." Tala said nervously, "Why did they take Rei too?" 

Bryan sighed, "I don't know Tala. I really don't know. We have to wait to find out."

After a few minutes the Demolition Boys heard rattling from Rei's cell. And then long painful moan. 

"Rei-Rei?" the red head called at his friend. 

But the Chinese blader didn't reply. Instead hi quietly murmured something to himself. 

"Rei," Tala tried again a little louder. But again, he didn't get any response.

Tala scowled, but he didn't have time to think, because he heard the door open again. And by the sound of it, he guessed, that there were for people coming. And really, soon he saw the same guards, which brought Rei, with Boris and some shorter guy, whom Tala recognized as scientists from Abbey. 

Nobody from the visitors paid Demolition Boys a glance; they went right to Rei's cell.

"Ara, our guest is awake," Boris said with a sadistic grin.

Rei immediately looked up. When he saw, who they were, he whimpered slightly. 

Scientist seeing this, smirked, "How nice, you still remember me." Then he nodded to the guards, "Seeing as he is awake, let's not waste the time."

The guards entered Rei's cell and were nearing the raven haired boy. 

Rei in fear was backing away from them, until his back was against the wall. 

"Leave me alone!" Rei cried out, as they neared, "I am not going back there!" 

But they ignored him and soon the guards had him in a tight hold with his arms twisted behind his back. They dragged him out, ignoring the shouts from other cells. 

Rei was crying and shouting swears at the guards. Rei was trashing, so the guards didn't have other choice but to lift him up, so all Rei could now do was helplessly kicking in the air. There were tears on his cheeks, "NOO! I can't go back there! Not anymore!"

The Demolition Boys couldn't do anything, but to watch as Rei was dragged away from them. They could still hear his screaming. There something, that was nagging at Tala's mind, but he couldn't put his finger on it. 

"Hey guys," Ian said quietly, "Is it only me, or Rei was speaking in Russian?" 

Tala's eyes widened, that's it! Since when does Rei speak Russian? And why was Boris so interested in him?

 


	7. Chapter 6

 They all gathered together in the conference hall. All except for White Tigers. They were the only one missing. 

Mr. Dickenson looked at their serious faces and sighed. 

"I think we will wait for them for a little way. When I called them yesterday, they said, that maybe they would be a little late," he said, but as soon as the words left his mouth, the door opened, revealing the members of White Tigers with an elder neko-jin.

"Who is that old man?" Tyson asked rudely. 

Lee and Mariah glared at him. 

"That is our grandfather," Mariah hissed, "so show a little respect, will you?!" 

Tyson immediately shut up. 

"But why did you bring him here?" Mr. Dickenson asked. 

Lee stepped forward, "We wanted to leave him in our room, but he insisted that he has to tell all of us something." 

Mr. Dickenson nodded and waved his hand, to show them to sit down.

When they were all seated, Lee looked around, "Our grandfather wants to tell us something, so Mariah and I will translate for you." 

Then he nodded at his grandfather, Xiaoli Wong. Xiaoli took a breath and he began to talk slowly. 

\- BB - BB - BB -

_Wong Xiaoli lifted his eyes from the document he was reading and saw photography on the right side of his desk._

_On the photograph was his first born son Jian with his family. Beside him was a small boy, no older than four years, with short green hair, his grandson Lee. Jian's wife Yue was holding their two years old daughter Mariah, who was tiredly leaning on her shoulder._

_Xiaoli smiled a little. It was incredible how the time passed by. Now were Lee seven and Mariah five._

_Xiaoli was about to return to his work, but his eyes traveled to the other side of the desk. There was another photograph._

_On it was his other son, Yang, with his fiancée Meilin. This picture was older then the on the right side. The reason was that Yang and Meilin were missing for more than six years. Yang and Meilin went to visit her brother in France and after they returned, they were going to get married. They called them from France that Meilin was pregnant and they are going home sooner, but after that nobody heard about them._

_Xiaoli's eyes filled with tears._

_Somebody knocked on the door._

_"You may enter," Xiaoli called._

_It was his wife Ting._

_"Dear, I want to remind you about your meeting at the city," Ting said softly._

_Xiaoli nodded. He stood up and for the last time he glanced at the photo._

_Ting noticed this. "They are alive," she said quietly, "I'm sure."_

_Xiaoli shook his head, "No, they are not. After another six months they are going declared dead, so it doesn't matter anymore."_

_\- BB - BB - BB -_

_Xiaoli was walking on the street. He was in bad mood because he didn't like city. He would rather be back in their small village. Less noise, less dirt and definitely less thieves._

_Like right now, when he felt strange hand in his pocket._

_With speed from his enhanced cat like reflexes he grabbed the annoying and surprisingly small hand and spun around. To his surprise he was holding small, six years old boy._

_The boy was looking at him with terrified golden, cat-like eyes. But then the boy recovered and yanked his hand free. Then he spun around and ran down the street._

_Xiaoli finally got over his shock and saw the boy disappearing into the crowd, so he ran after the boy. The boy was surprisingly fast for his small statue._

_In the end Xiaoli caught the boy again._

_But the boy started to struggle, to get free, but Xiaoli didn't let go._

_"Ja ogorchenn! Ja ne budu delatj to snova! Pozhalujsta prepjatstvujte mne pojti!" the boy called in fluent Russian. Fortunately Russian was the only foreign language Xiaoli knew._

_Xiaoli kneeled down to boys level, "Ne potrevozhjtesj, ja ne ushibet vas. Ja kak raz hochu pogovoritj."_

_The boy calmed and looked at Xiaoli._

_"Can you speak Chinese, boy?" Xiaoli asked in his mother tongue._

_The boy nodded._

_Xiaoli sighed, this would make things easier. Then he closely looked at the boy, stopping at his cat-like eyes, pointy ears and sharp teeth glistening in boys slightly open mouth._

_"You are a neko-jin, right?" Xiaoli tried to confirm._

_He saw that the boy looked at his own ears._

_Xiaoli smiled reassuringly, "What's your name, boy?"_

_The boy hesitated a little, but then he said quietly, "Rei Kon."_

_Xiaoli gasped. That couldn't be true._

_"Kon, as in Meilin Kon?" he quickly asked._

_Rei nodded again._

_Xiaoli thought he would faint. He grabbed Rei's shoulders impatiently, "You are son of Meilin Kon and Yang Wong, right?!"_

_But as soon as he said his son's name, Rei flinched and he covered his ears._

_"Nyet! Nyet Wong!" he was screaming, and he reverted back to Russian, "Nyet Wong, zato Kon!"_

_Xiaoli was surprised by Rei's reaction, but he quickly hugged the boy, to calm him down._

_"I understand, not Wong," he whispered in Rei's ear, "Rei Kon."_

_They stayed like that for few minutes, until Rei calmed down. The Xiaoli looked at Rei's from tears wet face and he said seriously, "Listen Rei, I want you to come with me home. To the neko-jin village. What do you say?"_

_Rei looked at him with tears in his eyes, "Home?"_

_Xiaoli nodded, "Right, home... I will introduce you to my wife, my son and daughter-in-law, and my grandchildren. So what do you say?"_

_Rei thought about it. But then he nodded._

_Xiaoli couldn't help it and pulled him closer, so he could hug him again._

\- BB - BB - BB -

In this moment Lee has problems to translate due to the shock and Mariah gave up somewhere in the middle. Their grandfather never told them about this. They knew, that one day he brought Rei from near town, but he kept the details to himself. But from what he was telling them now, it would mean, that Rei was... 

Xiaoli noticed their looks. " _Rei is your cousin,_ " he told them, " _I'm sorry I didn't tell you_."

Lee and Mariah immediately started to ask many questions. 

Others in the room could only watch them, but they didn't understand. 

"What happened?" Tyson asked, "What did the old man say?" 

Gary turned to him, "It looks like, Rei is Lee's and Mariah's cousin and their grandfather didn't tell them about it..." 

"What?" Tyson called, "But shouldn't Rei's name be Wong then?" 

Kai rolled his eyes, "Tyson if you listened a little bit... First, we don't know if Rei's parents were married. And then, it seems, that Rei was trying to hide his identity. Probably so, that whoever he was with the first six years of his life, couldn't find him."

"And that leads us again to the question, who kidnapped Rei and the Demolition Boys," Robert reminded them. 

The others nodded. 

"Hey, couldn't that be the man, who was in charge of Demolition Boys before?" Hilary asked, "That Boris..." 

"That's not possible," Tyson shook his head, "Boris is in the jail. We all saw it."

 Kai sighed, "No, he is not. They let him go few days ago."

The room was silent. 

Tyson stood up "What?! Why didn't you tell us?" 

Kai frowned, "Because it's none of your business, Tyson! The only one, who was supposed to be in danger were Demolition Boys." 

"As you can see, not only them!" Tyson hit the table with his fist. 

They glared few seconds on each other, when Max leaned to Tyson, "Tyson, there was no way to know, that Boris would try something like this." 

Tyson nodded and sat back down.

Kai turned to Robert, "Robert, I think, you have you have quite big chain of informators. Would you mind to send them to look for Boris?" Kai asked. 

Robert shook his head, "No, of course not. I will call them immediately." 

Mr. Dickenson cough a little to get their attention. "In the light of these circumstates, I have to inform you, that I have to cancel the tournament," he said to them.

All nodded. 

Kai immediately stood up and wanted to leave, when Xiaoli stopped him. 

 „Pozhalujsta prinesite Rei nazad," he said to Kai in heavy accented Russian. 

Kai observed him for a few seconds. But then he nodded and left without another word.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here are translates:  
> R: Ja ogorchenn! Ja ne budu delatj to snova! Pozhalujsta prepjatstvujte mne pojti!  
> I'm sorry! I won't do that again! Please let me go!  
> X: Ne potrevozhjtesj, ja ne ushibet vas. Ja kak raz hochu pogovoritj.  
> Don't be scared, I am not gonna hurt you. I only want to talk.  
> R: Nyet Wong, zato Kon!  
> No Wong, but Kon!  
> X: Pozhalujsta prinesite Rei nazad.  
> Please bring Rei back.


	8. Chapter 7

They didn't see Rei all week, nor did they hear about him. Right on the second day, they kidnapped them, the Demolition Boys returned to their routine of training and tests, so they didn't have much time to think about what's going on. But they knew, they had to get out of there so they wouldn't end up like the last time. They were sure, that somebody was searching for them, but they had no way to let them know where they were.

Demolition Boys ended their morning training and without much damage done to them. After the lunch, that resembled something that was already eaten once, they scheduled for some tests. 

The day before Tala heard that the scientists wanted to turn on the computer chip in his head again and upgrade it. Tala didn't want it, but he had no choice in that matter.

When they finished their meal, some bodyguards came to them and without a word they escorted the Demolition Boys to the labs. 

Suddenly Bryan turned and hit one of the men in the face. 

Others looked at him for few seconds in shock, but then the remaining guards launched themselves at Bryan. 

Spencer didn't hesitate and hit the nearest man in the guts and then he threw him at the wall Tala with Ian knocked one out too and soon all the guards were laying on the floor unconscious.

The Demolition Boys didn't wait, they spun around and ran. After a few second a loud alarm rang. 

"Derjmo!" Bryan swore, "They know. We have to split." 

Others only nodded. Right now their priority was that at least one of them had to escape. And they will have better chances alone. At the next cross-road they went their separate ways.

In the corridor, where Ian was, was nobody, but he could hear some faint screaming. He looked around and saw a locker. He grinned to himself and he ran to it quickly. He opened it, swept the things inside away and crawled in. 

'Hmm, this is probably the first time, I'm glad, I'm so short,' he thought as he closed the door. The second he closed it, he heard some steps on the corridor.

The short blader was sitting in the locker for a few minutes without a sound. Even though he didn't hear anything. He wanted to be sure, that nobody was there. Only after that he brought up his courage and peeked out. He didn't see anybody, so he carefully crawled out. He ran quietly, searching for a exit. But he didn't get more than few meters away, when he felt sharp pain in his shoulder. On instinct he reached there and felt a dart. It was probably paralyzing, because he immediately felt his feet and hands go heavy and his vision darkened. 

He could only mumble, "Oh grechiha."

Tala didn't have much luck either. He has met with Boris and two his helpers. 

„Zhopa," he called and spun around to run, but they flattened him and not a second later was an injection buried in his neck. After that he lost consciousness.

Spencer didn't get far. He ran right into a group of muscled bodyguards. If he had his Seaborg, he could have a chance, but now he could only hope, that he would buy his friends enough time to get away. He didn't hesitate and threw himself at the guards. It didn't take long and they took him down. 

His last thought was, 'Druzjja udachi...'

Bryan didn't bother to cover his tracks. He ran at full speed and didn't worry that somebody might see him. And after a while he really heard a shout from a side corridor. Soon he heard stamping of feet. Bryan only smirked and ran faster. But then he felt bullets fly around him. Bryan frowned; this was getting out of control. 

Those guys really wanted to get him. He swore quietly to himself. Fortunately he got to cross-road, where he turned. Just in time, because just as he disappeared behind the corner, a bullet flew there and bounced some of the wall away.

And where he turned, he saw an exit a few meters before him. There, just few steps from him where doors to his freedom. He quickened his pace. He neared the door; he was reaching for the handle. But suddenly he heard shooting and through his body shot sharp pain. A loud scream was heard throughout the corridors of Abbey.

\- BB - BB - BB - BB –

When Tala woke up, he couldn't move. He slowly opened his eyes and blinked. Around him was bright white light that was blinding him. He heard muffled voices, but he couldn't determine who they belonged to. He didn't even know, where he was. It was only slowly coming back to him.

He opened his eyes again, his eyes accustomed to the light and he found out, he was in big white room. He was fastened to a surgical table. Ian and Spencer were the same. Fastened to tables right beside him. They were both conscious, but under effect of some drugs. But what surprised and upset him was, that he couldn't see Bryan. Did he make it? Did he managed to run away from Abbey and will bring help?

The voices, Tala heard, belonged to three scientists, who were quietly talking, and ignoring them. But then the door opened and Boris walked in. When he saw Tala looking at him, he smirked. "

So you are all awake now," he said taunting, "Your little plan didn't work, but while you were out, I took the liberty and improved you a little.

Tala's eyes widened. He was so shocked, that he didn't hear Boris' next words. But he was brought from it with an electrical shock in his head. In his mind he heard familiar, yet unwelcome voice, notifying him of scan sequence. He didn't see Boris' triumphant smirk, when he was against his will reciting what was the new program in his head telling him.

Boris got closer, "How do you like that new upgrade, dear Tala?" 

Tala only glared. 

"Oh, I nearly forgot," Boris looked almost amused, "I want to introduce you to your new teammate..." 

He snapped his fingers and Grigory brought Rei in. But he was in poor state. From what Tala could see, he had bruises and cuts; he was walking uncertainly and had absent look in his eyes.

Boris went to Rei and gently stroked his cheek. 

Rei didn't move, he just looked before him. 

But Tala, on the other side, was horrified. 

"Why did you bring Rei here?" Tala asked, "He has nothing with this." 

To his surprise, Boris laughed, "You are wrong, dear Tala. Rei belongs here, maybe even more, than you. Rei was born in Abbey." 

Tala couldn't say a thing. How could it be possible?

But Boris wasn't done, "Rei Kon is one big lie." 

He grabbed Rei's hair, yanked him to himself and tilted his head up, until Rei screamed, "His name is Rei Wong..." 

Then he let Rei go and Rei fell on the floor, where he stayed. 

Tala opened his mouth, to say something, but nothing got out.

Boris turned to other Demolition Boys. 

"So from now on, Rei is your new teammate. As you maybe noticed, Bryan is not here," he said and raised Bryan's jacket. It was drenched with blood. "Bryan had a little accident in that chasing." 

Boris threw the jacket on the floor beside Rei. 

Tala immediately understood, what Boris meant. 

"No!" Tala started to tremble and tears trickled down his cheeks, "Bryan! Bryan!" 

He didn't care, that Boris saw his weakness. Bryan was strongest from them. He couldn't be...

Boris tsked and nodded to the doctors in the room, so they would sedate Tala. It didn't stop Tala from resisting, but soon he was given an injection and after few seconds his mind started to cloud. He was still sobbing Bryan's name, hoping that this was all a bad dream and he will wake up beside Bryan. Because Bryan just couldn't be dead...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translates:   
> Derjmo – shit  
> Oh grechiha – Oh crap  
> Zhopa – ass  
> Druzjja udachi – good luck friends


	9. Chapter 8

Kai was standing by bey-dish without a move. He was watching his Beyblade circling around edge. It was more than week and police couldn't find any clue about Rei and Demolition Boys. Training was the only thing that could distract him. Young Russian uttered frustrated scream. 

His blade jumped high in the air and Kai called: "Now Dranzer!" 

Blade immediately obeyed and with rapidly fell into the dish, which cracked into half.

"Kai, damnit, chill a bit, will ya?" Tyson called from the direction of dojo, "That was third dish, you destroyed this week. 

"Shut up!" Kai snapped, turned around and headed inside. 

Tyson flinched and quickly got out of the way of the angry youth. 

Kai passed Tyson without even glancing at him. When he disappeared into the house, Tyson let out breath, that he didn't even realize, he was holding.

"Kai is pissed again..." a voice came beside Tyson. He turned surprised and saw Max. 

"Yeah," the chubby blader nodded, "And he broke the dish again. It seems that he was the most affected from us. They just together with Rei and now... Rei got kidnapped." 

By the name of their lost comrade, Max's eyes watered with tears. His hands rose to his mouth, so they could muffle his sobs.

"It's all my fault," Max sobbed, "If I just saw them sooner, if I was quicker, if..." 

"Then what?" Tyson interrupted him roughly. 

Max flinched and quietly groaned. 

"If you got to them in time, they would kidnap not only Rei, but you too," Tyson said calmer. 

The younger boy stared at him without a word. 

Suddenly Tyson reached his hand, caught Max and jerked him to himself. 

Max, who didn't expect that, bumped into Tyson, who immediately sneaked his arms around Max's waist.

They stayed like that for few minutes, when Max heard his friend sobbing. 

"Ty-Tyson?" he asked carefully. The blond boy felt the embrace tightening for a second. 

"The only thing you are talking about is, what would be, if you got there on time," Tyson said between sobs, "but what if they kidnapped you too? Or if they killed you right there? What would be with me? I... I couldn't be without you."

But before Max could do anything to react, Tyson let him go and disappeared into the house. Max just stood there shocked. And then he finally realized, what Tyson said. His eyes widened and he started to run after his friend. 

But Tyson hid in his room and locked the door.

Max started to knock on Tyson's door. 

"Tyson, open, please," Max begged. 

Inside was everything silent. Max didn't stop yet, but after a few minutes, he gave up. He leaned heavily on the door. 

"Tyson," he whispered softly, "I just wanted to say, that... I wouldn't know what to do... if... something happened to you too... because I..." 

He trailed off, not noticing the sound of turning key. And because he was leaning on the door, when the door started to open, he lost his balance and fell right on Tyson and together they fell down.

Tyson looked up on Max shyly? "Y-You meant it?" 

Max looked away embarrassed and nodded. 

Tyson took hold of Max's chin, turned him back and kissed him softly on the lips. 

At first Max was too shocked to react, but then he returned the kiss. 

But it wasn't even a few second when they heard a voice: "Get a room, you two..." 

Both boys looked up and to they embarrassment, there was Kai standing right by their feet.

Kai started to walk again, when his cell phone rang. He quickly fished it out of his pocket and answered. 

"Hello?" he said, not very nicely. 

"Hello, would you like to connect a collect call from Russia?" he heard some operator say. 

 That got Kai's attention, "From Russia? Of course." 

It clacked in the phone as the operator was connecting him. Then he heard some heavy panting. 

"Hello?" Kai asked, "Who is there?" 

More panting. "Rei?" Kai asked unsure, "Tala? Bryan? Guys?" 

Finally, that someone on the other end had enough power to answer: "Kai, it's me..."


	10. Chapter 9

The Demolition Boys and Rei were in their room. Spencer and Ian were tinkering with some blade parts for their beyblades. Tala was sitting on a wooden chair with Rei sitting on the floor, leaning against his legs. Neither of them said anything.

Tala reached and pulled out the band that was holding Rei's hair, so it flowed around freely. He started to comb through them with his fingers gently. When Rei didn't protest, Tala divided and started to braid the hair.

Suddenly Rei started to sing softly. At first it was too quiet. Then as he got more confident, he sang louder. 

Tala didn't know what it was, but he recognized that it was in Chinese. 

Rei looked, like he didn't realize, that others were in the room. He just looked before himself and sang:

Shi shang zhi you mama hao

You ma de hai zi xiang ge bao.

Tou jin mama de huai bao

Xin fu xiang bu liao.

Shi shang zhi you mama hao

Mei ma de hai zi xiang ge cao

Li kai mama de huai bao

Xin fu na li zhao.

When his voice died out, everybody was silent. 

Then finally Tala said, "That was beautiful. What was it?" 

"It's a Chinese lullaby," Rei said softly, "My mom used to sing me it when I was small, when I was scared while waiting in a cell, similar to this one, for dad to come back from his training..."

Others looked at him in interest. This was the first time Rei mentioned that his past was bound with Abbey somehow. 

Spencer sighed and worked up his guts to ask, "Rei? Are you... I mean were you in Abbey?" 

Rei slowly looked at him and then away again. 

"Yes," he said as he put his head on Tala's knee, "I was born in Abbey."

This shocked others. How could that even be? Ian stood up. 

"This is ridiculous," he said angrily, "How could that be? Nobody saw you there, nobody remembers you. Then how come, you were born in Abbey?" 

Rei didn't even look at him, "As far as I know, and from what others told me, my mom and dad were visiting mom's relatives in France. And on their way back to China, they were kidnapped by Boris. Boris needed my dad for something... He trained there and got tested. Then I was born. Together with mom we were held captives, so dad wouldn't do something. But when I was three... he died. Boris wanted me to continue with the experiment, and when my mom didn't want to give me up, he killed her. And I continued with the experiment. When I was five, I managed to escape and somehow got to China. There I met Lee's grandfather, who took me in. Since then I tried to forget... God how I tried to forget all this."

Rei buried his face in his hands in frustration. 

Tala leaned down and hugged him as best as he could. He could understand why Rei did that. 

"You know, you could have told us this," he said. 

Rei laughed dryly, "Who would have believed me something like this? And besides, if I said something, Boris would have noticed me sooner." 

Tala thought, "Maybe you are right, point taken."

"I have one more question," Ian said, "How come Boris didn't find out about you sooner? I mean, I know its years from that incident, but name and everything..." 

Rei smiled a little, "My parents weren't married yet, when Boris kidnapped them. He didn't know that, so he just assumed my surname should be Wong. And since he didn't like my Chinese name, that mom gave me, he changed it to Raymond. He still thinks my name is Raymond Wong."

They slipped into a comfortable silence again. "Don't worry," Spencer said, "We will get out of here again. Someone out there is looking for us..." 

"So what?!" Tala snapped, "Bryan is dead already and even if someone from us managed to escape, it would be useless."

 It was true. Because right after they tried to escape, Boris decided to move them all to a new location. Nobody from them knew where it was, but it wasn't anywhere in Moscow, or near, for that matter. This fact hung heavily above them.

Suddenly the door opened and some guards followed by Grigory entered. They headed straight to Rei. 

"Ah, my little Raymond," he said slyly, "Or is it Rei now? Doesn't matter. I have present for you. Come with me..." 

Rei gasped, and the guards grabbed him and dragged him to his feet. 

Others quickly stood up. 

"You can come too if you want," Grigory glanced at them and smirked. The Demolition Boys looked at each other.

The guards started to drag Rei out of the room, followed with Grigory and Demolition Boys, who didn't want to leave Rei alone. They walked silently through the halls. Then they took Rei one way, while Grigory and Demolition Boys went another.

Grigory and Demolition Boys entered some laboratory. Boris was already there, waiting for them. 

"Ah, Tala, Spencer, Ian, it's good to see you again," he smirked when he saw them, "As I see, you decided to join us." 

All members of Demolition Boys glared at him, but Boris didn't even blink. If anything, his smirk only widened.

"And here I thought, you wanted to join the party," he said, "Just look out of that window and you will see an amazing show." 

Boris motioned to a window that was showing some other room. 

The Demolition Boys approached the window. They were a bit curious, what would happen.

Through the glass they saw as the guards threw Rei into the room and closed the door. Rei immediately jumped to his feet, threw himself at the door and started to bang on the door. But it was useless. They wouldn't let him out so soon.

Then in the middle of the room appeared a hole and a steel stool got out. 

Tala felt strange, yet familiar pressure in the air. He gasped and his eyes widened. He looked at the steel stool, and saw a single blood red beyblade. Tala started to tremble. He knew that blade, and what it held. He saw it only once, but he would never forget how terrifying it was.

The Demolition Boys saw as Rei flinched and slowly turned to the stool. 

He was breathing very quickly and he was trembling. Then he hesitatingly got away from the door and started to walk toward the stool. He was swaying a little. Rei reached his trembling hand toward the beyblade.

"No..." Tala whispered quietly, and then he said louder, "No, you can't do that!" 

He started to bang on the glass and screamed, "Rei! You can't touch that blade!!" 

Two guards grabbed his arms and pulled him away from the window. 

Tala struggled to get away, but they wouldn't let him.

The strange pressure got the stronger, the closer Rei got to that red blade. And when he finally touched it, it seemed, as if it exploded. As if the very air exploded. The floor trembled as if there was a weak earthquake, and the glass in the window cracked. After that Rei passed out.

Spencer looked at Tala shocked, "Tala, you know, what that is?" Tala nodded, "Yes. It's pure hell..."


	11. Chapter 10

The guards dragged Rei away from other Demolition Boys. After few corridors, they stopped before big iron door. After a second the door opened mechanically and the guards literally threw Rei into a big white room.

Rei immediately jumped to his feet and charged back, only to ram into the door, which closed.

“Let me out,” Rei called out as he banged at the door with his right hand.

He was scared and wanted to go back to others. He would do anything. Because he knew what was waiting for him. But Boris obviously didn’t plan to let him out of this room soon.

Rei heard some sound behind him and stopped banging on the door. His breath was shortened. He bit his lower lip and gripped the front of his shirt, to stop himself from trembling, but failing miserably. He knew what it was. If it wasn’t for that thing, he wouldn’t be standing here. Boris wouldn’t even spare him second look if that thing didn’t exist.

Soft whisper. There was heard a soft whisper heard in the room. Too quiet for anyone to hear.

It was calling single word, “Rei… Rei…”

When the voice got louder, Rei flinched. He knew that voice, but he hoped, he would never hear it again. He didn’t want to look behind him. But it was as if it was pulling him.

Rei slowly turned around. His breath was quick and he was sweating. One second he was cold and the next too hot. His trembling was obvious now. When his eyes landed at the stool in the centre of the room, it was as all the surrounding world disappeared. There were no other sounds and the background got blurred. He could hear the calling very clearly. And he couldn’t resist it.

Rei slowly took one step forward. And then another and another. He was visibly swaying as he walked, but that didn’t matter. Nothing mattered now. Only that, that he had to get to the stool. To what was lying on top. Just a little bit more. Just a few more steps and everything will be fine again. He would be united with his original blade.

The closer Rei got, the louder the voice was. It was calling to him so sweetly, like mother to her long lost son. It was a voice nobody, whom the voice choose, could resist. It was the voice of the blade. Voice of bit beast residing in it.

Rei got to the stool. He slowly reached his hand to that blade. He couldn’t, didn’t want to resist the calling. Then his fingers finally touched the blade and then curled around it and lifted it. And the calling voice changed into ear-splitting scream.

The air around Rei changed dramatically. It was full of energy. And it was moving very quickly. The air was literally heavy from the energy that Rei felt like suffocating. He more heard than actually saw, as the strange energy expanded like in an explosion with such force the glass and the walls cracked.

What happened next, Rei didn’t know. Some powerful presence forced itself into his consciousness. And it wasn’t very pleasant experience. As the explosion passed through him, the darkness crept into the edge of his vision and then it sucked him inside. He closed eyes and let himself fall into welcoming silence.

 

\- BB - BB - BB -

 

All the surroundings were white. But maybe you wouldn’t even call it surroundings. Because there wasn’t anything to see. You could look in any direction, but you wouldn’t see a thing. Just white light everywhere where you looked.

And in the center of this nothingness, was single, oh wait two persons. One was not really a human, but rather an enormous lion with a human woman’s head, a sphinx. It was lying on its side, supposedly sleeping, with half lidded eyes.

And beside the sphinx, half on the belly of the creature was laying unconscious Rei. He was so small compared to the sphinx, you would probably overlook him at the first glance. He looked so peaceful, lying there so relaxed, with his eyes closed. Almost like a sleeping angel.

The same soft voice echoed again. This time it was coming directly from the sphinx curled around Rei.

It was echoing with gleeful tone, “Finally you are here again… My little Rei. Now you will see what we can together do. We will take revenge for our kind on those who made us suffer…”

 

\- BB - BB - BB -

 

Kai angrily kicked non-existent dirt on the floor. It was obvious that someone was there not so long ago. Maybe just few hours before he and the rest of Blade Breakers together with Bryan arrived.

Bryan looked paler than usual. But that was understandable because he lost quite a lot of blood because he was shot in the left shoulder. His shoulder under the shirt was now heavily bandaged. His shirt was a bit torn up and his jacket was missing. Because he was forced to leave it behind while he was escaping from this place.

 

\- BB - BB - BB –

 

_The Blade Breakers barged straight into the lounge of the Moscow’s BBA filial._

_All people who were in the lounge flinched and looked at them. One secretary even dropped the papers she was holding._

_Kai walked swiftly over to still shocked receptionist, followed by the rest of Blade Breakers, who were calling loudly and demanding to see Bryan. Then Kai coldly asked about the Demolition Boy, at which the scared receptionist just pointed._

_After a few minutes and few more questions, the Blade Breakers finally got to the medical wing and to Bryan’s room._

_“Hey,” Bryan greeted them weakly._

_As soon as the younger Blade Breakers saw him, they did something that nobody would have guessed. They threw themselves on Bryan crying._

_Bryan winced from pain and Kai only shook his head._

_“Good to see you,” Kai said._

_“Good to be back,” Bryan said, trying to push the annoying crying trio on his hospital bed away, which wasn’t easy, because they were so happy to see him alive, they clung there like glued on._

 

\- BB - BB - BB -

 

The Blade Breakers were searching through now empty corridors of Abbey.

“God damnit, they are gone,” Bryan said the heavy truth out loud.

As soon as he said it, all hell broke out. Few things happened at once. First, Max fell on his knees and started to cry, then Kai kicked abandoned table so hard, that it fell over, and Tyson dropped the light he brought with him, just in case, which ended breaking into million pieces on the floor.

“I will kill you, BORIS!” screamed Kai into the empty corridors of Abbey.

 

 


	12. Chapter 11

Enrique couldn't imagine his day off better. The weather was excellent, he didn't have any duties and what was the most important fact that Oliver was here with him. That wasn't strange because they were together for almost a year now. Their friends even said, when they said them, it isn't so surprising.

Right now they were at Enrique's, in the living room, watching movies. Enrique looked at Oliver and smiled. 

Oliver blinked, but when Enrique started to lean closer to him, he understood and closed his eyes, waiting for the kiss.

Enrique was leaning closer to Oliver. Everyone would have thought, that he was going to kiss him. But when he was just few inches from Oliver's face, he stopped suddenly. They stayed like that for a few seconds. 

Oliver opened his eyes and looked at Enrique questioningly. 

Enrique on the other side looked like was going to pop a vein on his forehead.

"Eh?" came from Oliver. 

Enrique's face scrunched into a grimace. 

"Close..." he managed to say. 

Oliver blinked surprised, "Huh?"

 Enrique half collapsed on top of Oliver, burying his face into the crook between his shoulder and neck. 

"Too close..." he mumbled out. 

"W-wha?" Oliver was trying to understand, what his boyfriend was saying. 

"Our bodyguards are too close..." Enrique finally fully voiced out his problem.

Oliver blinked and looked around the room. And really. The guards that argued their right to be in the room somehow wormed their way closer to the pair on the couch. And now were they standing only about a meter from them. All of them were grinning and some of them were holding camera in their hands, ready to take picture.

Oliver blushed bright red. This was so embarrassing. They should have thrown them out of room, like the originally planed. But noooooooo... Misters bodyguards were saying it would be safer to have them inside the room. Right now Oliver wished to just disappear into the ground. To get away from them.

\- BB - BB - BB -

_"But father," Enrique tried to reason with his father._

_But Mr. Giancarlo didn't plan to change his mind. They were currently in Mr. Giancarlo's office. Just now he told to Enrique that from now four bodyguards would follow him wherever he went._

_"No buts," Mr. Giancarlo said sternly, "Five BBA bladers were already kidnapped. And I'm not taking any risks here..."_

_Enrique was staring at his father. Four bodyguards?!_

_"Isn't that a bit much, father?" he asked, hoping his father would change his mind._

_"Don't worry Enrique," his father said, "I talked to fathers of your teammates and they are doing the same, so don't worry you would be the only one."_

_'Olie too?' Enrique thought, 'now that will be interesting dates... Me, Olie and bunch of bodyguards...'_

\- BB - BB - BB -

So thanks to their fathers they were now sitting in the living room with about a ten bodyguards, that were so close, they could touch them, if they just reached and only a few seconds ago they tried to kiss. Enrique still had his face buried in Oliver's neck, so he wouldn't have to face those "devils in human skin" as he called them. And Oliver's face was darker and darker shade of red.

Enrique's head snapped up. 

"That's it!" he called out, "GET OUT!" 

The guards looked at each other sheepishly. 

"But Master Enrique," one of them dared to speak, "Your father told as to watch you at all times..." 

Enrique glared so hard, that the guards flinched. 

"Fine," he stated, "Stay here then."Then he stood up and started to walk away. 

"Where are you going?" Oliver piped out. 

"Just to the bathroom," Enrique said.

Oliver was left in the room with grinning guards. He fidgeted nervously. 

'Stupid Enri,' he thought as he pouted silently, 'Leaving me here just like that...' 

He just sat there. The time went painfully slow and Oliver felt more and more uncomfortable. As the seconds turned to minutes, he couldn't take it anymore and stood up. 

"I'm going to look what's keeping him so long," he said and left the room.

Oliver walked around on the corridor that led to bathroom. Suddenly one of the doors opened, pair of hand shot out, one getting hold of Oliver and the second one covered his mouth before he could scream and dragged him into the room. Oliver started to struggle against his captor.

Oliver was quickly turned around and the hand on his mouth was replaced by a pair of lips. Oliver in panic couldn't come up with anything else, so he just bit down. Immediately he was released and quickly turned around to reach for the door handle. 

"So this is your thanks?" a familiar voice came. 

Oliver snapped his head back and saw amused Enrique.

"Enriiiiiii," Oliver squealed and threw himself the on his boyfriend. 

"You left me there with hyenas," Oliver complained. 

"Sorry about that," Enrique apologized, "But I knew, that if I'm gone long enough, you will come after me. Now we have a bit time for ourselves." 

Oliver smiled brightly.

Enrique leaned closer to Oliver and captured his lips in simple sweet kiss. 

Soon Oliver pressed his lips against Enrique's. Enrique then licked Oliver's lower lip. Oliver parted his lips, which Enrique immediately took advantage of and slid his tongue into Oliver's mouth. Oliver moaned softly, until he froze suddenly and pulled away to glare at Enrique.

"Enrique," he started threateningly, "Remove that hand from there, or I will knee you where it hurt, and believe me it's really close..." 

This fuss was because Enrique's hand somehow traveled south and ended on Oliver's ass. And even though they were together for almost a year now, Oliver never allowed them to go past kissing and cuddling.

Enrique felt a bit disappointed, but released Oliver. 

"I don't get it, why are so against it," he said. 

Oliver turned around, so Enrique wouldn't see his face and mumbled something. 

"Eh, what did you say," Enrique asked confused. 

Oliver sighed and repeated that, "That I'm not going to be like you girlie toy's, just use and throw away..."

Enrique was shocked, that's what Oliver thought? He hugged Oliver from behind and pulled him closer to him. 

"That won't happen," he whispered in Oliver's ear, "You are not a girl after all..." 

Oliver stepped on Enrique's foot, to warn him, that he is not in mood for jokes. 

"Ouch," Enrique flinched, "I know, I know, I'm sorry about that... But you won't end like them. I love you, not them."

Oliver sighed and slowly flung his head back. 

Enrique quickly captured his lips in a kiss. 

They stayed like that for some time. But they moment was once again interrupted by no other than their devilish bodyguards. 

"Master Oliver, Master Enrique," came somewhere from behind the door. Oliver and Enrique reluctantly pulled away.

"They again," Enrique murmured annoyed. 

"Well, it can't be helped," Oliver said, "We have to put up with them." 

Enrique walked to the door, "But I don't want to..." 

Oliver was still standing in the middle of the room. 

"Enrique?" Oliver started. "Hm?" 

Enrique was already reaching for the doorknob. 

"If you manage to put up with our bodyguards till they leave," Oliver said, "Then yo-.. we... I mean I will go all the way with you..."

Enrique's hand dropped from the handle. He spun around and looked at Oliver shocked. 

"W-what did you say?" he asked. 

Oliver looked away, "Y-you h-heard..." 

Enrique was looking at Oliver for a few seconds before he turned back to door and opened them. 

"You don't have to do anything. I like you the way you are. So stop talking nonsense." 

When Oliver didn't move, he walked over to him, grabbed his hand and started to pull him out of the room, "Come on, we have hyenas to face..." 

 


	13. Chapter 12

Drip. Drip. Drip.

The sound of dripping water was the only sound heard in the small bathroom. The sound of the dripping water and heavy breathing was breaking the silence. Breathing of teenage girl leaning above the small basin. Len ci She was standing there, with her hands on both sides of the sink for support and with her head down, so the water could drip down from her wet hair.

But the water was not clear, like water should be. It was tinted black. Black like the hair dye, that was used. Black, like the thoughts she was currently feeling. It was sadness, depression, frustration, anger at herself and few other negative thoughts, she couldn’t place. But the sadness dominated and it overcame her.

That’s why she was now here, in the bathroom, with her hair wet and above all, now dyed black. It was to represent her deep depression. Because black was the color of depression and despair. Exactly how she wanted to look right now. She wanted others to know her feelings, her sadness.

The girl raised her head and looked into the mirror hanging above the sink. Her own amber eyes looked back at her. They looked so dull. Her face looked so sad and tired. But it was probably no surprise, considering, what she was going through. She was blaming herself for what happened. Even though others might say, she had nothing to do with it, and couldn’t do anything to prevent it.

There was a quiet knock on the door, but the girl ignored it. She didn’t want to see anyone right now. She wasn’t ready to face her friends. Not yet. Though she was decided, that this was the best choice, somehow she felt ashamed of herself. Somehow she knew, her friends, and especially her brother, wouldn’t approve of her deed.

She smiled sadly at her reflection in the mirror, but she was pulled out of her thoughts again. The knock was there again.

This time it was accompanied by the voice of her brother: “Mariah? Are you okay? You are there for ages now.”

Mariah frowned a little.

Her brother Lee called to her again, “Mariah, come out now.”

Then now raven haired girl closed her eyes and sighed.

Then she called out, “Okay, I’m going out, don’t worry.”

She grabbed a towel, put it over her head and slowly walked to the door. She opened the door, hoping the towel would be enough to hide her hair for a little longer.

Lee was glaring at her, as she opened the door.

“What were you doing here so long?” he deadpanned.

Mariah tried to smile at Lee, but it turned out to be a grimace of sort.

That of course didn’t go unnoticed by Lee. He frowned.

“Is something wrong Mariah?” Lee asked his younger sister.

She shook her head, “No, of course not. What would be wrong?”

But as she shook her head, a stray strand of her black hair came from under the towel on her head.

Lee immediately noticed it and gasped surprised.

“Ma-Mariah, what is that?” he asked, but didn’t wait for her answer, grabbed the towel and pulled it of, revealing Mariah’s raven black mane instead of pink, like it used to be.

For a few seconds both siblings stared at each other. It was like silence before the storm comes. And then it really came.

Lee got red in face and started yelling, “WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO? WHY DID YOU DYE YOUR HAIR?”

Mariah looked ashamed away. She didn’t say anything. She didn’t know what to say. She was expecting that kind of reaction, but that didn’t stop her from dying her hair black, and now she had to deal with her brother.

Suddenly Lee grabbed Mariah’s hair and dragged her back into the bathroom. Not that she actually resisted. There he put her head above the sink and turned the water on. Lee reached for shampoo and poured great deal of it on his sister hair and started to wash it thoroughly. He just hoped the dye didn’t settled completely just yet, and it would come out without damaging her natural color much.

Lee washed Mariah’s hair and repeated the whole process few times before it finally left the girls hair pink again, thought maybe a bit darker, than it used to be, but at least she didn’t look like female version of Lee now. Lee sighed and stopped the water, only to notice quiet sobbing, coming from his baby sister.

“Mari?” Lee asked gently using the nickname, that he was calling her, when they were kids.

But Mariah didn’t react, just kept sobbing.

“I’m sorry, I overreacted,” he apologized.

At that Mariah shook her head, “No, it’s not that… I’m sorry that I acted so stupid.”

Lee closed his eyes and sighed. Then he gently smiled.

“Don’t worry,” Lee said to his little sister, “I understand. We are all a bit stressed out and frustrated. Just don’t do it again, ‘kay?”

Mariah nodded and first time in a long time something close to a normal smile appeared on her face, “Yeah, I promise.”

Lee pulled Mariah into a tight hug, trying to comfort her.

Mariah leaned into his touch, snuggling her face into Lee’s chest.

“I’m really sorry,” she whispered.

“Don’t worry about it Mari,” Lee reassured her, “Everything will be fine, I swear.”

 

 


	14. Chapter 13

Set the launcher, aim it, pull the cord. Set the launcher, aim it, pull the cord. It was always the same routine. As if they were just beginners, that need to go over the basics. It was mind numbing. Boris probably just wanted to see, how long it would take them to snap. And his reason? Just for the laugh out of it. Because he was sadistic maniac, who was capable of doing just that.

The Demolition Boys were together with Ray lined up doing all the basic exercises since morning. 

Spencer wanted nothing more than to shake his head at these pointless exercises, but he knew better. Any sign, that he disagrees, would cost him some real fucked up punishment. And he certainly didn’t feel up for denied food for weeks, whipping, or Boris’ favorite: experimenting. So Spencer only frowned, and put his mind back to the routine. Set the launcher, aim it, pull the cord.

 

\- BB - BB - BB -

 

They finally got lunch break.

Spencer was sure, it was way after any normal human would call it lunch, but he really couldn’t tell time in this hell hole, they were dug into.

There were no clocks and no windows by which they could have tell time. But that didn’t really matter. They all felt as if they were here for years. But that really couldn’t be true. Few weeks tops.

Food wasn’t really good, and there wasn’t much, just so they wouldn’t be starving, but not enough to feel full, but none of them would complain. At least Boris didn’t feel the need to starve them. Starve them into obedience. Probably because it wasn’t necessary. But mostly because there were other ways to keep them obedient. Much better ways. That and that they didn’t really fight. Not anymore. There wasn’t a point for it.

Spencer looked around the table.

Tala was simply eating. There wasn’t other word to describe it. He looked like robot. Just doing what he was programmed for. He didn’t look anyone else.

Spencer shook his head at the red head’s behavior. He seemed so… soulless. Which he probably was, considering what happened. Tala was affected by it most of them.

Then the blonde boy shifted his gaze to the youngest of their little group.

Ian was stuffing his face as quickly as he could.

Spencer wondered how he could do that without choking himself. But he sort of understood why the short boy felt the need to act like pig before the food. After all, what if Boris decides that they needed some endurance exercise? To see, how long they can go without food. They couldn’t really know when they will get their next share of rations, so it’s the best to eat as much as they could in those circumstances.

Finally Spencer moved his gaze on the last and newest member of their little group, Rei. If Spencer didn’t know better, he would say that Rei was a statue. Or doll, because statues don’t move. Even if all he did was from time to time to pick some food an eat it. Rei was simply o depressed, that if they didn’t something, he would close himself off of them.

Nobody from the Demolition Boys noticed Boris who entered the room. Not until he coughed to make his presence known.

Boris smirked maniacally as he enjoyed their shocked reactions for a split second before they all covered it with emotionless masks. Oh, how he enjoyed their fear, their pain.

“My boys,” Boris started slowly, in a tone, that suggested they were on friendly side, “I have news for you.”

Not one of them blinked, although on the inside they were all wondering what new way of torture, he calls training, did Boris come up.

Boris tsked and created something that could be translated as smile in his language.

“You know about the Beyblade World Championship that is held every year,” he said still with that creepy smile on his face, “You will be taking part in it as team. It is held in few months, so don’t worry, we have plenty time to train.”

He looked pointedly at Rei, who averted his gaze.

“And your team name will be Black Sharks.”

Tala’s eyebrows shot up, “Black…”

“Sharks?” Ian finished the name.

Somehow it tasted so different on his tongue as he said it.

Boris only nodded and turned around, indicating that the conversation is over. He just motioned to Rei to follow him.

The Chinese boy obediently followed Boris out of the mess hall for his individual training, leaving the Demolition Boys finish their meal before they returned to the training as well.

 

\- BB - BB - BB -

 

Ian was lying on his bed, unable to sleep. He knew, he should sleep before the new horrors that Boris will surely unleash on them the next day, but he just couldn’t. He was staring at the ceiling. The shadows were dancing before his tired eyes, but he still couldn’t fall asleep. He was thinking about happening of the day, of them, and what will happen to them. Normally he wasn’t the one to be bothered. At least not on the surface.

Tala was the one to display emotion most of the time, Spencer was caring but not very emotional and he himself was not for displaying emotion either.

But now, where nobody was looking, Ian felt as if he suddenly got older by 50 years.

He had watched Tala turning into shell of what he once was, Bryan dying, Spencer, closing himself even more from the outside and Rei… slowly becoming tool of Boris.

Even he felt the weight of this situation and wanted nothing more than to run away, hide in a hole and suck on his thumb like a little kid. But that wouldn’t help anything. And if Tala and Rei were slowly falling apart, it was his and Spencer’s duty to try to keep them in one piece.

Suddenly an Idea struck him. Ian slowly climbed out of his bed. Silently, so he wouldn’t wake up any of his friends. He looked around the dark room, taking in the surroundings. Then he kneeled down besides his bed, closed his eyes and brought his hands together, like he saw many doing.

Now, Ian wasn’t believer. Nobody from Abbey was. They saw the world in rational way. Anything religious was banished from the grounds of that hell hole.

But now, Ian felt, that it was probably the only way, which could keep him sane. So he prayed.

He didn’t know to whom he should pray or how exactly do that. So he just talked to anybody, that could help them. To save them. He prayed for this all to be only bad dream from which they can wake up, for their sanity, for their freedom...

 

 


	15. Chapter 14

Tala was leaning against the wall in their training room. He already had his battle with Spencer, and won with quite ease. So now he was supposed to watch Spencer and Ian to battle. But he couldn’t concentrate. Not that it wasn’t interesting, but something was disturbing him

Or rather someone.

Even though Rei wasn’t with them, Tala knew exactly what he was doing. He could feel it.

Literally.

Because of certain events, he was quite familiar with the power of that bit beast, that demon. It left him, but he suspected it was so for everyone that came in contact with the sphinx, if Rei’s reaction was something to judge after, and now he could feel every time its power was used. It was giving him an uncomfortable headache.

Sharp battle cry coming from Ian drew his attention back to the battle between his two teammates. The battle was still going on, and didn’t look like it was coming to an end soon, as both of the boys looked pretty determined to win. They were always like that. But a bit of competition never hurt.

Their blades were making a circle around the edge of the dish, as both of the boys were trying to come up with new strategy to surprise and defeated their opponent.

Then they both cried out at the same time:

“Seaborg go!”

“Wyborg go!”

Both blades charged at each other, both of them spinning madly. The blades crashed together and sent around shower of sparks from the spot they touched each other. But then they separated again and hurried in opposite directions. And two sets of eyes were looking at the dish, analyzing the others moves and mentally preparing for the next move.

The beyblades were spinning around, moving at high speed and crashing into each other like mad, trying to push the other blade out of the dish, but neither of them budging even for a second. Their strengths were too close to each other to say who will be the winner.

Tala wondered who will it be this time.

It seemed like Ian was getting impatient. Patience was never his parquet. He wanted to beat Spencer so he could throw it to his face.

“Wyborg move,” he called to his blade, which evaded the charging blue one.

Ian let out frustrated cry. He would have to call out his big weapons to do that. Spencer wouldn’t know what hit him.

“Wyborg, show yourself,” he commanded and the chip on his blade started to glow.

Then a snake like being started to emerge from the depth of the blade. It was his bit-beast, Wyborg. With his help he would win for sure.

Spencer didn’t show any visible reaction. He already knew, Ian would try that. Without it, it wouldn’t be any fun, would it? So he only reached his hand over the bey-dish.

“Seaborg come out,” he said calmly, causing his bit beast to wake up and make his appearance.

Both bit beasts charged at each other, only to crash together for a split second and then they sped off in different directions again.

Both opponents circled around each other picking up the speed again for their next attack. And the next second they attacked.

The snake evaded the whale and tried to attack from the side, but without much effect.

“Seaborg, Wave Impact now!” Spencer called out the attack of his bit beast.

Ian who didn’t want to be left behind ordered his bit-beast to attack too: “Come on, Wyborg, do Dive Bomb now!”

The meeting of those two attacks was similar to a blast, the wind rushing around the two bladers, nearly knocking them of their feet. But both of the blades were still spinning inside of the dish. So neither of the bladers wasted any time and they attacked again, making the spinning blades crash into each other again.

And then there was only one blade inside the dish.

A blue one, that was somewhat wobbly spun in the center of the dish. Spencer had won.

Ian sighed as he saw his own purple beyblade lying on the ground few meters away from him. But no worries. He will get Spencer next time, that’s for sure.

Tala watched his two friends to shake their hands, as was the custom.

Then Boris came into the room with a big smirk plastered on his face.

“Good job Spencer,” he said to the blond, “Ian you should work more. You are still impatient as always.”

The boys just nodded, not wanting to aggravate Boris.

“Sir, where is Rei?” asked Tala, feeling daring.

Boris scowled. “

Well, if you have to know, dear Tala,” he said menacingly, “He is training, of course.”

Tala frowned, “But where? Why can’t he train with us?”

Boris suddenly pulled Tala close to himself and bared his teeth, “That’s not your business.” Then he released the red head.

A sharp pain ran through Tala’s head. He clutched the side of his head, wincing. This was not good. Something was going on. Rei was probably loosing control over the demon bit beast. And that wouldn’t be good. Tala still remembered what happened to him. Rei could be different from him, he could use the sphinx, but to loose control over it, was certainly not good.

And then it came. It wasn’t really strong, but it was strong enough for them to feel it. The earth shook under them.

Boris frowned and quickly to intercom and pushed the button.

“What the hell happened there?!” he barked into the intercom.

At first there was only static heard.

“Sir, you should probably come back here,” came a voice that Tala recognized as Grigory’s.

Boris swore and left the room in hurry.

The Demolition Boys, or Black Sharks, as they were called now, trailed after him. They hurried through various corridors to the training room only Boris knew where it is. After what seemed like eternity, they came to their destination. And what greeted them, was not a happy sight.

Rei was lying on a stretcher, all white and unconscious.

“What happened,” Boris growled.

Grigory looked unaffected.

“What do you think?” he said calmly, “I told you we should probably take it easy. He lost control over the beast. But don’t worry, he is alive.”

Hearing this, Boris calmed.

“Alright, let’s give him the rest of this day off,” he said.

Tala was relieved and worried at the same time. If they were going to continue with this madness, it will kill Rei for sure. He didn’t notice Boris to turn them until he started to yell at them.

“What are you doing here?!” Boris yelled.

The three members of Black Sharks shrunk away from the scolding. They knew they were in trouble, but they had the right to know.

“Hmph, doesn’t matter now,” Boris said more calmly, “You can have the day off too.”

The three boys were shocked, but they didn’t complain. They just have to get out of here before Boris changes his mind.

So Spencer walked over to the stretcher and took Rei on his arms.

Then they left the room and headed to their own room.

When they got to their room, Spencer put Rei carefully on his bed.

They were all silent.

“Nee, Tala?” Ian asked, breaking the tense silence, “That earthquake… did Rei cause that?”

Tala nodded.

Ian frowned, “What the hell was that? I still don’t get it. Boris won’t tell us, but you seem to know something, so tell us…”

Tala looked at him, as if he was judging, if he should tell him. But then he closed his eyes and sighed heavily.

“Okay,” he said softly, “if you are so eager to know…”

He walked to the wall and leaned on it with his arms crossed over his chest.

“I don’t know everything either, but I will tell you what I know,” he said and looked at his companions, “As you know, Rei is the only one able to play with that blade you saw. Its bit beast is a sphinx, and it doesn’t really have a name, so everyone is just calling it Sphinx. And maybe that is its name, I don’t know. It’s a very ancient spirit. Very angry and powerful spirit. And quite prideful spirit on top of all that. It doesn’t like humans and will not cooperate with them. It only wants someone from its own kin.”

Ian frowned and interrupted the red head, “What? I don’t understand… if it hates humans, how come it obeys Rei?”

Tala sighed, “You are not listening to me, Ian. I said it will work with its own kin. What is sphinx? Half human, half cat. Like neko-jins. It will obey only neko-jin. Well obey is probably not the best word. More like allow them to use its strength. And you know how strength is alluring and hypnotizing.”

Tala looked at Ian who nodded.

Then he continued, “But when I was eight, Boris suddenly came up to me and gave me a blood red blade. It was terrifying and enticing at the same time. I wanted it. I wanted its strength. I set it and pulled the cord. The power was superb. It was like nothing I felt before. But a second after that I heard a voice. It was the Sphinx. It was horrible. It pumped so much power through me. I couldn’t do anything. The pain was so unbelievable. I wanted to die. And then I don’t remember anything. I was in coma for a month. And even after that I had to do physiotherapy to get all my movement back. I still can tell when someone uses its power. I feel it. Pulsating through my being. Its quite terrifying when I think about how much power that thing has. Nobody should have so much power. And we know from Rei that not even neko-jins can operate that demon for sure. I really hope that a miracle happens and we get out of here, before it kills Rei.”

After that the room fell into tense silence.

 


	16. Chapter 15

Emily stared at the blinking cursor in her chat window of her computer. She had been chatting with Kenny.

They have been talking about various things, mostly about the teams that will get to the World Tournament, and especially if the Demolition Boys will show up. They all hoped they would. Besides why else would Boris kidnap them for? The only reason that came to mind was to get the world domination through the tournament again.

Emily sighed and leaned back. She really wanted to question Bryan about what happened, but that Kai was so protective of him. So she only got information from second hand. Supposedly Rei knew how to speak Russian. But how? When did he learn that? Unfortunately both available Russians were very tightlipped.

The orange haired girl shook her head.

‘I don’t have enough information,’ she typed to Kenny, ‘Maybe I should just let it go. Not really my problem. Sorry…’

After that, Emily logged off. She didn’t want to be heartless, but it was true. She had her own problems.

All Starz wanted to win this Tournament too. They didn’t want to be forever world class, but never the winners.

She sighed and massaged her temples. It was late and she really should go to sleep. The training was early in the morning after all. She just wanted to check her mail for the last time before she retires. There was the mail, she was waiting for. She opened it and frowned. She was wrong. Again. There was a beyblade team from Ukraine, that she thought might be the Demolition Boys, but now they couldn’t be them. They got knocked out from their local tournament. So she was in the blind end again.

Emily turned off her computer and went to bed. She would resume her research tomorrow.

 

\- BB – BB – BB –

 

_The door to their cell opened._

_A female scientist looked inside and Rei’s mom sighed in relief. This scientist was the one that was nice to them. That had enough of Boris’ orders. And she told them that she would help them run away._

_“Come,” she whispered and looked around, “Now is the best time…”_

_Rei’s mom, Meilin, nodded and quickly took her three years old son on her arms. They had to be fast. They never knew, when some guards can come around and alert everyone. And Meilin couldn’t afford that. She had to save her son._

_At first they have been going very quiet and slow. They didn’t want to draw unnecessary attention._

_But then the scientist, who was helping them, noticed it was too quiet. Something must have happened._

_“You go this way,” said the scientist to Meilin, “I will stay here, and try to hold them back if needed.”_

_Meilin was taken aback. This woman can’t stay here, in this hell. Not after she helped them to run away. Boris will kill her._

_But the scientist shook her head. She will get out after them. On Meilin’s face was look full of gratitude and sorrow._

_“I thank you madam. Thank you for the life of my son,” she whispered and then she started to run in the direction the woman showed her._

_Meilin Kon ran for her and hers son life. She had to get out of here. And then back to China. Back to her village. There they would be safe. Just a few more meters, and they will be out of here. Away from danger, from Boris._

_Suddenly the previously dark halfway got brightly lit._

_Meilin stopped because the light blinded her. But just a second after that she opened her eyes and what she saw froze her on her spot._

_Boris._

_He was standing only few meters away from her, with his lackey’s. Two of them were dragging obviously dead woman, who helped Meilin._

_“Now Missis Wong, be a good mom, and come back,” Boris said, “We won’t do anything to your son. We will just educate and train him to become a very influential man, that’s all…”_

_Meilin shook her head. She was absolutely terrified. But that didn’t mean, she would let them have Rei._

_She took a few steps back._

_When Boris’ troops didn’t move, she set her scared son down._

_She hugged him briefly, whispering into his ear, “Run, my Rei, and be safe. Remember, that your name is Rei Kon.”_

_Then she pushed him away, she stood up, turning to Boris with her arms wide, making a wall between their tormentor and her son._

_Rei tried to make a few unsteady steps, but then a gun shot rung. Scared he turned back, only to see his mother to the floor, a red liquid, known as blood, seeping from her chest. Rei froze, not believing his eyes. He saw his mom’s wide open, but unseeing eyes staring dully at the ceiling. His mom was dead. A desperate scream made a way up his throat just as someone came to him and scooped him roughly up. His escape was over._

 

\- - - - -

 

Rei abruptly sat up, panting. That dream again. It was hunting him. He wanted to forget, but that didn’t seem to be his case. He had to relieve the murder of his mother again and again in his dreams.

Rei sighed and quietly stood up, and walked to the bathroom attached to his and Demolition Boys cell. He had the feeling he was going to be sick. And he certainly didn’t want to do it in here. Not only it would wake up his friends, but it would be disgusting. There was no way he was going to throw up in the room they are all sleeping in.

He got to the bathroom and leaned above the sink. He was breathing heavily, but that was all. Rei was trembling, but he didn’t know if it was from the dream, or from the cold. Actually, he didn’t really care. He turned on the water and splashed some on his face.

When Rei looked up into the mirror above the sink, he didn’t see his own reflection. In stead he saw a female neko-jin, with golden cat like eyes, just like him, and long silver hair. He never saw her, but unconsciously knew that this was Sphinx.

“Rei, my Rei,” she said in a voice, that Rei wasn’t sure if it was real, or just in his head. But then again, it had to be in his head. If it weren’t it would definitely wake others.

“My Rei,” Sphinx said again, “Why do we serve those humans? We could take over the world ourselves. To bring our kind were it rightfully belongs…”

“Never,” whispered frightened Rei.

Sphinx just smirked.

“Give it a time, and you will beg for my help,” she said calmly.

Then she reached her hand out of the mirror towards Rei’s face.

Rei didn’t find this strange. It was his hallucination after all. But the spot, where she touched, felt hot, oh so very hot. It practically burned. Rei flinched and toppled over the sink again, gasping. His sight swam before his eyes.

“Are you okay?” came a quiet voice.

Rei turned around and saw Tala standing in the bathroom door.

Rei smiled a little, “Yeah, fine. I just need some refreshment.”

Tala nodded.

Suddenly Rei was by Tala looking straight into his eyes without blinking.

“W-What?” Tala asked surprised.

Rei didn’t answer he just pressed his body on Tala’s and kissed him.

“R-Rei,” Tala stuttered, shocked by Rei’s actions.

Rei ignored him and pressed his body even closer to the redhead’s. He was practically grinding him.

“Mnn, Ta-la,” he moaned, “Don’t say, you don’t like this. I know you want this too.”

Tala tried to push the Chinese boy away, but Rei attacked him mouth with his again. Tala resisted at first, but soon he was lost to the heat of the kiss too.

Both boys let their hands roam each others bodies.

After a few seconds, Rei wanted, needed more. He practically ripped Tala’s shirt off and threw it to the floor.

Not long after that they were almost naked, skin on skin, mouth on mouth.

Somehow they managed to get into Rei’s bed, even the last clothing they still had forgotten on the cold floor.

Tala couldn’t think straight, even if he wanted. Not that he did want. Not with Rei like that, doing miracles like that to him. He knew, that he will probably regret it in the morning, but right now he didn’t care. He just focused on Rei, who was practically screwing him right now, even if he was “just” grinding him.

It was hard and fast. It felt so wrong, but at the same time so right. Even in their state they tried to be as quiet as possible. Their bodies’ slick with sweat were rubbing against each other in the dance of pleasure.

And soon it was over. Rei bit into Tala’s shoulder as he came, while Tala buried his face in the pillow besides Rei’s head.

After they came down from their pleasure high, Tala pulled out of Rei and collapsed beside Rei. They fell asleep back to back, not caring about the outside world.

 

 


	17. Chapter 16

At this point Kai was more than ready to start pulling his hair out. A few months after his friends’ disappearance, and still not a single hair of them was found.

After they retrieved Bryan, nobody could find any clue as to where others were moved. You would think that after about three months and with their equipment, they would find some lead, but no. Not a single letter about their and Boris’ whereabouts.

A hand on his shoulder brought Kai back from his thoughts.

He snapped his eyes at the one, who dared to interrupt his thoughts and glared, only to find Bryan, looking at him blankly.

“That won’t help you,” Bryan said in flat voice.

“So what?!” Kai snapped, “How can you be so damn calm?”

Before Bryan could say anything, someone beside him gasped. He glanced at Max, who was standing on his right side.

The blond boy was staring at something wide eyed.

Both Russians followed his gaze to the main gate.

They immediately saw what had upset Max.

There stood the rest of Demolition Boys together with Ray. They all wore black clothes, which were really contrasting with their unhealthy white skins. They looked like they didn’t get enough food and sleep, which was probably true, knowing Boris and his methods. Another change was in Tala’s and Rei’s hairstyle. Tala’s hair was not gelled to stick up, like usually, and Rei’s hair was braided, which was probably Tala’s doing, because Bryan knew, that his red head lover loved the Chinese boys hair.

But they were not alone. Boris was behind them and of course he had a few lackeys with him. Which meant, that they couldn’t just approach them or they might get hurt.

Of course as soon as Kai saw the Demolition Boys, he attempted to walk to them.

Bryan grabbed his arm to stop him.

“What are you doing?” Kai hissed.

Bryan was unfazed by Kai’s snapping.

“Look,” he said in a no-nonsense voice, “If Boris just stands there; he probably has cleared the documents for everyone. So if you just walk there, you will only get hurt, and won’t solve anything.”

Kai didn’t want to do it, but he had no other choice but to agree. He nodded and turned away from Boris’ group, so he didn’t have to look at them.

 

\- BB - BB - BB -

 

The Black Sharks stood in the stadium hall, waiting for the Opening Ceremony. They were nervously glancing at each other, so they wouldn’t have to meet their friends’ eyes. Well at least three of them were glancing at each other.

Rei was just staring at some spot on the ground, his lips almost unnoticeably moving. One wouldn’t probably see it, if they weren’t looking for it.  He did that sometimes lately.

Tala was saying that it has something to do with Rei’s new bitbeast, but Ian feared that the Chinese boy was slowly losing his mind. And maybe it was both.

Suddenly they felt Tala tense beside them.

Spencer and Ian looked at him and noticed he was completely frozen, with wide eyes and gaping mouth. They followed his gaze and saw the source of his shock. And they froze too.

There stood Bryan together Blade Breakers, healthy and very much alive. No wonder Tala was in this state.

Finally Tala tore his eyes from his lover.

“I… I need to go to the bathroom,” he squeezed out.

Boris nodded, not even looking at him. “Don’t be long,” he said, just before the red head disappeared.

 

\- BB - BB - BB -

 

Tala leaned above the toilet bowl. He felt sick, but obviously not sick enough because, nothing happened. He clutched his aching stomach. He needed something to calm himself down, but he couldn’t think of anything. Every time his mind back wandered back to Boris and Bryan and his stomach gave another aching twist.

Tala exited the booth and walked to the sinks. He turned on the cold water and splashed some on his face. It helped a bit, but not completely. He still felt like shit. He didn’t even bother to reach for the towels; he just wiped his face with his sleeve on his jacket.

Tala glanced into the mirror in front of him. He looked like he might fall over soon. He was snow white, with only dark circles under his eyes; and his cheeks seemed to have sunk in a bit.

He shook his head, not wanting to see anymore and turned around, only to suddenly come face to face with Bryan. Tala gasped and his eyes widened. He started to tremble as Bryan walked to him.

“Y-You…” Tala choked out, his voice breaking. His trembling hands lifted and clutched Bryan’s shirt.

“Tala,” Bryan whispered.

“You,” Tala started again, tears rolling down his cheeks, “You are a-alive…”

His hands started to roam Bryan’s torso, as if to assure himself, that this was real.

“You are alive,” Tala was sobbing, “H-He said, that… that you are d-dead.”

He didn’t have to say, who is “he”, Bryan knew perfectly well, who could say something like this.

But what was more important now was that Tala was starting to become hysterical, and he couldn’t allow that. He had to ask him if everyone was okay, and what was Boris planning to do. So he couldn’t have Tala completely out of it.

“Ivanov,” he hissed, “Calm down.”

Tala immediately stopped everything and hung his head low.

Bryan even suspected, that the red head held his breath. The older boy knew, what the red head was doing. He was trying to detach himself of everything, to be emotionless just like Boris wanted him to be. He didn’t want to be the one that forced Tala to do it, but there wasn’t any other way. Otherwise Tala would sink into hysterics and that wouldn’t be good either.

They didn’t have much time. Soon someone might come to look for Tala. So Bryan has to make it quick.

“Tala, we must act quickly. How are others? Is anyone hurt? What is Boris planning? Why did he kidnap you?” Bryan quickly asked questions.

For a few seconds everything was silent, except for falling water.

Then Tala lifted his head, not meeting Bryan’s eyes and said, “Nobody is hurt per se.”

His voice was so hollow, that Bryan wanted to kick himself, because it was him, who forced Tala into this, but there was no use in that. He had to do it quickly, so he nodded at Tala’s answer and waited for him to continue.

Tala clutched the sleeve of Bryan’s shirt.

“Bryan, you have to promise me something,” he said, sounding desperate even if he tried to hide it, “If someone has to fight Rei, they have to forfeit.”

Bryan looked at him surprised.

“What?” he asked confused.

“Swear to me that anybody that faces Rei, will forfeit. They don’t have any chance against him,” Tala inquired.

“I…” Bryan started, but Tala stopped him, frowning.

“Someone is coming,” Tala hissed. He quickly walked to the exit.

“I will stop them,” he said to Bryan and quickly disappeared.

And he almost bumped into Boris’ bodyguards.

“What are you doing here?” he growled.

But those men couldn’t be intimidated so easily. They glared at him in return.

“You were taking too long,” one of them barked.

Tala glared at him, “What? Can’t a guy go to a toilet and make his business in peace?”

But those men weren’t easily distracted. They headed to the bathroom, ignoring Tala’s protests.

“I think I heard voices,” the bodyguard said and started looking around the bathroom.

Then he pulled out a gun from his gun belt inside the jacket and went to the bathrooms stalls. He kicked every door open, just to be sure, that nobody is inside.

When he got to the last stall, Tala let out a strangled sound.

But when the man kicked the door open, it was empty, just like the stalls before that.

Tala was relieved, but he didn’t let it show. But he was also confused. Where did Bryan disappear to? He didn’t even have enough time to run away, so where was he? He didn’t have much time to think bout it, because the guards didn’t want to just stand here and wait for him.

They started to drag him out. They wanted to be with Boris as soon as possible, and report him, that the red head didn’t meet anyone from others.

The bathroom was silent for a few moments. Then the garbage can under one of the sinks moved slightly. Then it toppled over and out crawled an annoyed Bryan.

“The things I do for you,” he muttered as he straightened up and dusted himself off as good as he could. Bryan then kicked into a paper towel ball that fell out of the can and left the bathroom.

 

 


	18. Chapter 17

Bryan got back to the Blade Breakers.

Kai glanced at him, but Bryan shook his head and soundlessly mouthed “later”.

Kai frowned, but the lilac haired boy already turned his back to him. Kai knew that Bryan followed Tala with the intention to talk to him, but clearly it was something that he didn’t want to be heard by some unwanted ears. Which he understood, even if he didn’t like it, seeing, that Boris and his lackeys were there.

Kai glanced around the room.

Almost everyone, more or less obviously, stared at Boris and his team.

Well, with the exception of a newbies team from South Africa, called Fire Wasps. But that was understandable, as they didn’t know them.

But others… They were watching Boris at least from the corner of their eyes.

And Mariah was openly staring, while Lee was holding her arm, as if to keep her in place. He was smart enough to catch on, that confronting the old Russian right now might be dangerous.

The attention of the dual haired teen was disrupted by a call from a small plateau at the back of the hall they were in.

Mr. Dickinson was standing on the plateau and giving all participants an opening speech.

Kai let slip most of it away. He rather looked at Rei, who looked as if he was going to pass out soon, but was trying his hardest not to.

Bryan nudged Kai hard in his side and when the younger looked at him, the lilac haired pointed with his head towards the plateau. Mr. Dickinson was already talking about a drawing, that would decide which order they would fight and with whom.

“Well, good luck everyone,” Mr. Dickinson said, “and now, could the captain of last years champions, Blade Breakers, come up here?”

Kai nodded and walked up to the plateau.

An Assistant was holding a box to him.

Kai reached inside and felt a few rubber balls. He moved his hand around a little, then he grasped one ball and pulled it out.

Everyone looked at him expectantly.

“Number six,” Kai said clearly and Mr. Dickinson nodded.

Blade Breakers’ name flashed on a screen behind Mr. Dickinson and then it slid down and a tablet appeared where Blade Breakers were on its sixth leg.

Kai walked back to his team and Mr.Dickinson called another Captain, which was a girl from all female team, Fire Wasps.

To Kai they seemed a bit arrogant, as if to say that they will surely win the championship. But even if they are good, they are still new and they didn’t know what awaits them.

The Fire Wasps captain drew number 8 and made her way back down. BEGA followed and pulled number 3.

One by one all the captains went up, to draw their number.

Lee was the first one that pulled number that could already connect to an opponent, number 4. All Starz landed with Fire Wasps.

When Tala went up, everyone tensed. The red head refused to look anyone in the eye, he just reached for the ball and pulled it out. It was number 2. He silently walked back to Boris with his head bowed.

Only two teams were left. Majestics and Psykicks. Majestics ended going against the Blade Breakers, which meant, Psykicks had to go against Black Sharks.

Mr. Dickinson gave them last few words and let them go.

Bryan and Kai turned to Boris’ group, only to see, they were long gone.

Bryan swore and ran outside, but he didn’t catch any sight of them. And he didn’t know where they were staying either. So he just returned to the others.

 

\- BB - BB - BB -

 

“I can’t believe it!” Tyson yelled, “That NERVE!”

Everyone was walking out the stadium, after the drawing, heading towards their hotel.

“Tyson, please, calm down,” Max said quietly.

Tyson wanted to snap at him, but Kai put a hand on his shoulder, effectively shutting him up.

“Granger, don’t be stupid,” Robert said, “You will only make fool out of yourself, if you confront Valkov. He has all documents alright, I asked about it Mr. Dickinson.”

Kai sighed, “Let’s have a meeting about it.”

Robert nodded, “Yeah, good idea. At your place? In an hour, so we can unpack?”

“Sure,” Kai agreed.

Every other team agreed to that. Everyone but Fire Wasps, who were ignoring the whole conversation and talking among themselves.

Mariah came to their captain, Natasha Stuart, and put a hand on her shoulder, getting Natasha’s attention.

“Maybe you should come too,” Mariah said to Natasha.

“Eh? Why?” Natasha asked confused, “We don’t even know them… And if you forgot, we are all rivals here.”

Bryan glared at her, “Those bladers are our dearest friends, and they were kidnapped, because they were good at what they do. Maybe you will be next target, if you are so good as you think you are. Do you want to stay in the dark?”

Natasha gulped and shook her head.

Robert sighed, “Okay, now that we are calm… As I said in an hour we will meet in the room of Blade Breakers and discuss our strategy at fighting Black Sharks and stopping Boris’ plan.”

“Room 528,” Kai supplied the room number for those who didn’t know.”

Everyone nodded and went to their own rooms for now.

 

\- BB - BB - BB -

 

Tala fell backwards from the blow Boris gave him in the jaw.

Spencer was immediately besides him, helping him up.

“I saw Kuznetsov follow you” Boris hissed.

Tala wiped his bloody lip and looked him in the eyes, “I didn’t meet with Kuznetsov, sir.”

Boris glared at him for a few seconds, then turned away, “Tch, fine, now everyone to your rooms.”

They didn’t hesitate to get away from him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Psykicks vs Black Sharks  
> BEGA vs White Tigers   
> Majestics vs Blade Breakers  
> All Starz vs Fire Wasps


	19. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From this chapter on, there will be two different spellings for Rei’s name. When Boris and his cronies will talk about him, they say Ray, and others will say Rei.

The Black Shark arrived to their hotel room.

Boris arranged it so, that they were at different hotel than other teams. It was partly because Boris didn’t want them to bother him, and partly because he didn’t want to Tala, Ian or Spencer run of and ruin everything. He wasn’t worried about Ray, because he was completely in his control. Thanks to his training and that bitbeast, Ray completely submissed himself to him.

The hotel was nothing fancy, but it surely knew how to offer security and privacy to its customers. Nobody but the customers could enter, the wall were thick and soundproofed. It was almost like prison, but therefore it was perfect for Boris’ plans.

The moment Black Sharks entered their room, Ray was ushered to his bedroom and was locked there.

Boris put the key into his pocket with a smirk.

Then he looked challengingly at Tala, “Is there something you want to say?” Tala’s face remained emotionless.

“No sir,” he said coldly.

Boris’ smirk even widened.

“Good,” he said and walked to another bedroom. There he turned to the guards, “Don’t let anyone out, understood?”

A choir of “Yes Sir!” was heard and Boris disappeared into his room.

 

\- BB - BB - BB -

 

“I CAN’T BELIEVE HE ACTUALLY CAME!!!” Kai threw yet another cup, which crashed on the wall.

Bryan, who was calmly leaning on the wall not even a meter from the spot, didn’t even react. He was used to much bigger tantrums, which Tala threw. But then again, it was unusual for Kai to show this much emotion.

“K-Kai,” Kenny tried to stop Kai, but as Kai looked at him, he immediately quieted down.

The mood in the room worsened even more.

Tyson, Max and Kenny sat down on the couch and looked like they want to disappear. They were so scared of Kai yelling at them.

“Hiwatari,” was all Bryan said and the mood shifted. It wasn’t calm, but at least it was less tense.

Before anyone said another word, there was a knock on the door.

Max quickly jumped and went quickly open the door. Outside stood members of All Stars and Majestics.

 

 

“Is it time already…?” Max questioned and let them in.

 

Everyone got comfortable, when Psykicks came. Soon they were all there, cramped inside Blade Breakers living room of their, even the Fire Wasps.

“Why are we here?” called out Natasha Stuart, captain of Fire Wasps.

Mariah insisted on them coming. Because she didn’t want anyone on having disadvantage of not knowing what’s going on.

“Yeah, this has nothing to do with us,” her teammate, Caterine Bereby, nodded in agreement.

“Nothing to with you?” Lee growled, “And what if you face them? They are ruthless and emotionless monsters!”

Many of the beybladers there flinched and looked at Bryan and Kai fearfully.

Bryan only shrugged. He didn’t really care what others thought, because it was partly true. And it was all because of their training with Boris. The more reason to warn others before Tala and his team.

The members of Fire Wasps didn’t look all that convinced.

“And why is there broken glass on the floor?” asked Monica Carter, another player from Wasps, pointing at what used to be a cup, before Kai took hold of it.

“And that is none of your business,” said Bryan.

Monica looked pissed at being lectured.

Bryan pushed himself away from the wall, he was leaning on and walked to Monica.

“If I were you, I would stay quiet,” he said in a low tone.

Monica looked at him challengingly. “Or what?”

Bryan smirked and leaned to whisper into Monica’s ear, “Or you might have a little accident.”

Monica’s eyes widened. Only to turn into a smirk second later. She looked like she wanting nothing more than to challenge Bryan.

Kai pulled Bryan away.

“That’s enough,” he said.

Bryan shrugged, “I was only saying hello to her.”

With that he returned to his spot by the wall and the meeting could start. Bryan told them all about what Tala told him. And about the warning to forfeit if they come across Rei.

Fire Wasps of course didn’t believe him, but others were already thinking what to do, if it really comes to that. But right there they couldn’t really do anything more than talk.

 “As I said, Valkov has everything under control, so we can’t get the rest of Demolition Boys and Rei out of there. For now. We don’t even know, where they are staying, there is no information on them,” Robert said solemnly.

Everyone in the room was nodding.

“Psykicks should be really careful, as they are going against them first,” Kai said.

Kane sighed, “If they are as strong as you think, we probably won’t win. But even so, we can gather information about them, so you will have to take revenge for us.”

Kai thanked him, promising that they would make best out of their situation.

 

\- BB - BB - BB -

 

The matches were finally starting. They were divided into two halls. In the morning were playing Psykicks with Black Sharks in the Hall A and Majestics with Blade Breakers in the Hall B. And after lunch break it was BEGA against White Tigers in Hall A and All Stars competing Fire Wasps in the Hall B.

Tyson wanted to ditch his battles to watch Black Sharks, but Kai firmly refused.

They had to all go to their match with Majestics. Tyson, Max and Kai were playing.

Max, who went first, got to play against Oliver. It went smooth at first, but it was obvious that Majestics underwent some intense training, because Oliver managed to turn it around and defeat Max.

Fortunately Kai won against Robert and Tyson was so eager to get over with this, he literally pummeled Johnny.

“Damnit, I can’t believe we lost against you,” yelled Johnny.

They had trained really hard and they still lost.

“Johnny,” Robert put his hand on Johnny’s shoulder, “that’s enough, they won fair and square.”

Johnny frowned but nodded. He was so frustrated, but it couldn’t be helped. So he just reached and shook hands with Tyson.

After that Tyson literally shot out of the hall, eager to get a look at the other battle. He ignored all the calls, and just headed for the Hall A, where Black Sharks and Psykicks were.

But as he got there, spectators were already leaving. Tyson looked around confused.

He spotted Kane and went over to him.

“Hey,” he said, “What happened? Is the fight over already?” Kane looked at him. “Over?” he practically rolled the word on his tongue, “It was over before it even started. They were quick and brutal. They finished us off within seconds.”

Tyson looked at Kane with his mouth wide open.

“What happened here?” asked Max, who with others finally caught up to the Dragoon blader.

“Fastest battle in the Beyblading history,” Kane shrugged, “They came, ran us over, and left.”

There was shocked silence.

“They had gotten stronger. Much stronger,” said Salima with a sigh.

“I’m sorry I don’t have enough to tell you,” Kane sighed, “They attack is brutal. Don’t know about defense as we didn’t even touch them.”  

Everyone turned around to leave the hall, when they saw Fire Wasps nearing them.

“Ara, you came to look at you opponents?” asked Monica with a smirk, “Too bad, you will play us first, and we will win for sure!”

She walked to Bryan, with a seductive sway of her hips. She leaned to his ear, brushing away stray black locks that fell into her face, “But if you are good too me, I can tell you some blading tips.”

Bryan grabbed the front of Monica’s shirt and shoved her away.

“Keep your distance Carter,” Bryan growled.

“Hmm, feisty, I like that,” Monica purred.

Bryan didn’t even acknowledge that and started to walk away.

Kai followed him.

“We are going,” he said and others quickly caught up to him, as not to get into any trouble.

This was definitely turning into something weird.

 


End file.
